Dear friend, you have provided complete information about what exactly happened. Have you presumed the "negligence" of the employee? I recommend that you order an inquiry. The focus of your inquiry should be on the incident and not on the person. The Enquiry Officer (EO) should check whether the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was well in place. If your company delivers expensive goods, then you are supposed to have the SOP.
If there is no SOP, then the EO should find out whether any specific instructions were given to the employee regarding the precautions that should be observed while accompanying the goods. If you do not have SOPs or if the instructions were not given in writing, then you do not have the right to blame the employee. It is a failure at the managerial level. You can hold the junior employee responsible provided there is non-compliance with the orders or instructions.
Yes, regardless of the SOPs or written instructions, one is expected to use common sense. But even then, an employee cannot be fined more than 5-10% of his salary for negligence.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar