An Essex-based road haulage firm has been fined £170,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,268 after an employee was crushed, in October 2015, between two articulated vehicles and subsequently died from his injuries. His vehicle rolled forward out of control whilst he was coupling the HGV tractor unit to a trailer.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident found that the company had failed to implement safe systems of work or monitoring arrangements to ensure that its drivers were consistently undertaking coupling and uncoupling operations safely, in line with widely available industry guidance. As a result of this, a culture developed whereby its drivers were not always applying trailer parking brakes.
A manufacturer of large concrete panels and a plant hire company were fined a total of £3.8 Million and ordered to pay £27,844 costs following the death of an employee at a factory in Worksop, Nottinghamshire.
The deceased was working in the raised basket of a mobile elevating working platform (MEWP) removing the lifting attachments from the top of a concrete panel, which weighed about eleven tonnes and was stored on a transport pallet. The accident took place when the panel started to topple and struck the MEWP throwing him from the basket. It also caused a number of other concrete panels to topple, one of which fell onto him.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) confirmed that the frame used to secure the panel was not properly connected to the pallet, as a locking pin had not been correctly reinserted after the frame had previously been replaced, and there was no system of pre-use checks. The pallets were in a poor condition, with defects including missing support bearers and stabilising legs. Other failures included the storage of large freestanding concrete panels in the finishing area, which should have been secured in storage racks, and a lack of sufficient planning. The investigation also identified concerns with the wider systems for the storage of concrete panels at the site
Three Teesside based companies were fined a total of £1.5 Million and ordered to pay £68,000 costs following the injury of an inspection engineer during a pressure test.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuting told the court, that a valve on a pressure test rig was pressurised above the safe working limit and failed, causing the hose and metal fitting assembly to whip round, striking the injured man on the right leg, causing serious compound fractures.
A Brighton-based waste collection and recycling company has fined £500,000 and ordered to pay £6,000 costs after a worker died after being struck by a reversing telehandler.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company had failed to address the management of large vehicle movements on its site and had not carried out an on-site health and safety inspection. In addition, the driver of the telehandler involved in the incident had not received any training in operating this vehicle.