Rainbow Waste Management was also ordered to pay £64,770 following the incident at its Swadlincote site on 7 June 2013.
Derby Crown Court heard how 24-year-old Ashley Morris, known as Will, sustained fatal injuries to his head and spine when the bucket of the Bobcat loading shovel that he was operating crushed him.
Mr Morris was airlifted to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham but was declared dead in the early hours of 8 June 2013.
In the 10 days leading up to the incident, CCTV cameras on the Swadlincote site captured over 200 examples of unsafe working practices.
These included dangerous operations with the shovel such as workers being lifted in the bucket or having to take evasive action to avoid contact with moving vehicles.
At an inquest in 2014, a jury reached a verdict that Mr Morris’s death had been the result of an accident after he became trapped between the arm that links the vehicle cab and the bucket.
But Rainbow Waste Management, which provides wheeled bins and skip hire services to the wider Derbyshire region, pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act following a prosecution brought by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to put in place basic legal requirements of training and supervision.
Condolences
In a statement, Chris Hill, managing director of Rainbow Waste, conveyed the company’s “sincere condolences” to Mr Morris’s family and friends.
He claimed that up to the point of the incident the firm’s health and safety record was “extremely good” with a consultant providing a comprehensive training programme to all employees.
He said: “Ashley was an experienced and licensed operator of the loading shovel. On inspection, the loading shovel was correctly maintained and in perfect working order. No other person or vehicle was involved in this accident.
“We can only hope that this serves as a warning to all drivers to always operate machines in a correct and safe manner.”
Chris Hill, managing director
Rainbow Waste Management
“We will never know why Ashley took upon himself to purposely disable the safety devices of the machine which led to the accident. We can only hope that this serves as a warning to all drivers to always operate machines in a correct and safe manner.”
Mr Hill added: “We welcome the Judge’s decision to reduce the amount of fine for our excellent Health and Safety record and our post-accident improvements in monitoring our staff and being awarded accreditation from Safe contractor for our commitment to achieving excellence in health and safety.”
HSE
HSE Principal Inspector, Elizabeth Hornsby, added: “Rainbow Waste failed to put in place basic legal requirements of training and supervision. The death of this young man was entirely avoidable.”
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