On the opposite side of the room, Brian is directing three of the contractors as they push and pull the next storage assembly into place, ready for the forklift to pick up. The four large castors with grey rubber tyres fixed to the bottom of the assemblies make it possible to move these assemblies by hand, but they are very heavy, and it is by no means easy. The men straining to move them must be even hotter than Molly and Brian, cocooned in their orange biohazard suit enclosures as the rubber wheels squeak, rolling slowly across the light blue painted concrete floor.
Finally, the assembly is in a position Brian is happy with and he gives the three men a double thumbs up with his plastic gloved hands. Two of the men walk away relieved, with their hands on their hips; they head to take a breather whilst the third, a young lad named Olly, puts his arm up onto the assembly, his hooded head dropping against it to also take a breather.
Molly hears a lot of heavy breathing coming through her earpiece and says, “Well done,” to the three men, but gets no acknowledgement from any of the three in return.
The driver of the forklift has been waiting patiently, perched up in his seat behind the wheel of the forklift; as he awaits the next assembly to be in position ready for him to lift and for Molly to give him the go-ahead to proceed. As usual, however, Molly waits; she gives the three men who pushed the assembly time to get their breath back, listening through her earpiece for the heavy breathing to die down. The last thing she wants to do is to rush this operation, even though she wants it to be over as soon as possible. So, she waits until she is satisfied that everyone is recovered and ready to proceed.
A few minutes pass. Olly has moved away from the assembly and the heavy breathing in her earpiece has diminished. And so, Molly decides to proceed with getting the latest assembly loaded onto the truck.
She looks over to Mark, the driver, who seems to have anticipated her go-ahead because he is already leaning forward and reaching for the ignition key to switch on the forklift’s almost silent motor. Nevertheless, Molly says, “Okay to proceed, Mark,” into the hidden microphone in her suit helmet and raises her hand, showing Mark he is clear to proceed, with a raised thumb.
Mark selects forward and the forklift almost glides over to the assembly. He takes care to position his forks before they slide under the assembly until they are fully inserted, at which point he applies the handbrake. The three men who pushed the assembly into place converge around the forklift and the assembly with a strap, to secure the assembly to the forklift. One end of the strap is hooked onto the cage of the forklift and then wrapped around the assembly until the other end is hooked onto the other side of the cage. The strap is then ratcheted until it is tight, securing the assembly to the forklift so it cannot fall off, in case Mark has to take some evasive action while moving.
Reverse is selected and the forklift arches backwards in Molly’s direction, comes to a stop and then starts to move forward towards the rear of the waiting truck. Two of the men are a short distance either side of the lifted assembly, following, ensuring there are no unforeseen obstacles or hazards for the forklift to run into, while Olly is walking in front checking for the same. This might be complete overkill because there isn’t anything for the forklift to run into unless it veers seriously off course and drives into a wall, but Mark’s forward view is impaired by the assembly on his forks so the method is set and stuck to.
Molly and Brian watch unconcerned as the forklift moves around, making its way towards the truck, Molly has even started to think about getting the next assembly ready for lifting as she looks at the rear of the forklift moving away from her.
Suddenly, her earpiece is filled with heavy breathing, quickly followed by coughing but she can’t tell who it is coming from; she is just about to shout halt, when it squawks into her ear. She is beaten to it by Brian and the two men either side of the forklift.
Without warning, Olly collapses straight down onto the concrete floor and into the path of the oncoming forklift. Brian is first to shout halt by a split second, as his hands and feet tingle with adrenaline as he sees Olly collapse. The two men either side are shouting the same as their arms shoot up into the air for Mark to see. Mark—whose mind, if the truth is told, had started to wander slightly to the ‘date’ set up for tonight with a woman he has had his eye on for some time—presses the brake pedal far too heavily.[AJ1]
The forklift snaps to an instant stop and in the same instant, the assembly slips forward on the forks, towards to end of them, carrying on its journey as the strap on one side inexplicably falls to the floor.
Molly takes a sharp intake of breath through her open mouth, her eyes wide as she sees the assembly slipping towards the end of the forks, its own momentum carrying it almost halfway off the forks. For a moment, the assembly comes to a stop.
Panic now courses through Brian’s veins as he sees the assembly slip forward. It comes to a small stop but
