Construction company fined £566,670

A Northamptonshire construction company has been fined £566,670 and ordered to pay costs of £9,000 after a tipper vehicle driven by one of its employees came into contact with overhead power lines (OPLs) during the construction of a waste transfer station.  The company had identified the need for protection structures but after an initial delay only one was installed. In order to empty the final remains of the load from his vehicle, the driver pulled forward with the body raised and the vehicle touched, or came close to touching, the 33KV OPL. The tipper vehicle suffered minor damage but the driver was unhurt.  An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) showed that the risks from OPLs should have been assessed more rigorously and that a thorough assessment of the system of work, reduce the risk of tipper vehicles striking an OPL, would have shown it to be inadequate.