Risk, Health and Safety Information

Skip firm fined following death of worker

A skip company has been fined for safety breaches at its West Bromwich site where an employee had been killed when he was run over by a 13-tonne shovel loader.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today (17 December) prosecuted Need a Skip Ltd at Wolverhampton Crown Court for failing to ensure that workers and vehicles were safely segregated on the site.

24-year-old Wayne Meylan died of his injuries at the firm's premises when the loader struck him as he was crouching over a manhole cleaning out a drain pump in the yard on 11 September 2006.

HSE's investigation found that Need a Skip Ltd did not have a transport plan in place to segregate people from vehicles and the company's on-site health and safety training plan had not been adhered to.

The court was told the company had previously been informed of the risks associated with workplace transport by HSE during a routine inspection.

Need a Skip Limited, of Brandon Way, West Bromwich, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £45,000 and ordered to pay costs of £125,000

After the hearing HSE inspector Karl Raw said:

"Transport is one of the biggest causes of death and injury within the workplace, especially where the machinery in use is large. For this reason it is imperative that where people and machinery need to work in close proximity the employer ensures, wherever possible, that measures are implemented to segregate them or put in place suitable and effective measures to ensure safety of their employees.

"The ad hoc approach by Need a Skip to its on-site activities, combined with heavy machinery moving around, meant there was a high potential for an incident to occur."