One of the company’s directors, Kevin Hoare, was also handed a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months at Chichester Crown Court yesterday (November 2) after pleading guilty to health and safety regulation breaches in relation to the incident.
Lindsay Campbell, a 66-year-old father of ten from Waterlooville in Hampshire, and a colleague were both working at South Coast Skips Ltd’s site at the Rudford Industrial estate in Arundel when the incident happened on July 25 2012.
Mr Campbell was killed when the bucket of an excavator he was working in tipped, causing him to fall nine metres to the ground. Mr Campbell’s colleague, who was in the bucket alongside him, also fell and suffered severe leg injuries in the incident.
The Court heard that Mr Campbell had carried on working for company director Mr Hoare, despite recently retiring. On the day of the incident, Mr Campbell was running an electric cable to power a waste screening trommel.
He decided to run the cable along a previously used route in the rafters of the shed and asked to be lifted in the bucket of an excavator. The excavator driver lifted both Mr Campbell and an agency worker, but while positioning the cable the hydraulic pressure dropped, causing the bucket to tip forward. Both men fell nine metres to the concrete floor.
According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Court also heard that the bucket of an excavator is not designed to lift people, yet nobody on site attempted to stop this activity taking place.
Prosecution
South Coast Skips Ltd of Rudford Industrial Estate, Ford, Arundel pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act, 1974 (HASWA,1974) was fined £65,000 and ordered to pay costs of £25,000.
Company director Kevin Hoare, 65, of Fareham, Hampshire pleaded guilty to section 37 of HASWA, 1974 and was given a 12 month custodial sentence suspended for 18 months.
HSE inspector Graham Goodenough said: “This incident resulted in the death of a man who had only just retired and was looking forward to spending time with his children and grandchildren.
“Nobody should ever be lifted in the bucket of an excavator. Neither the bucket nor the excavator have the necessary safety devices nor fail safe devices that would prevent a person falling. This company did not have in place the training and supervision and especially the health and safety culture that ensures that nobody would consider undertaking such an obviously unsafe act such as this, and if they did ask nobody would allow it to happen.
“On average 50 people are killed each year by falls from height, so all companies, whatever their size, must have robust systems in place to prevent unsafe lifting practices. When lifting people only equipment specifically designed for this activity should be used.”
When contacted by letsrecycle.com, no one at South Coast Skips Ltd wished to comment.
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