Waste management and construction firm John Stacey and Sons was fined £60,000 by Winchester Crown Court last week (July 29) following the death of a Frederick Aubrey on June 1 2007 at its Tadley facility in the north of Hampshire.
Mr Aubrey had been working with two other employees at the waste transfer station hand-sorting material in a process known as ‘totting'. A fourth worker was asked to tip over a skip with a shovel loader and, in doing so, reversed over Mr Aubrey. Mr Aubrey died five days later in hospital.
The Health and Safety Executive explained that the practice of ‘totting' had only been going on at the company for “about two weeks” prior to the incident and John Stacey and Sons had not recognised that by doing this people were being unnecessarily exposed to the risk of vehicles moving around them with nothing to protect them.
John Stacey and Sons pleaded guilty to section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 at an earlier hearing at Basingstoke Magistrates Court on June 29. The company was then fined £60,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £29,061, as well as a victim surcharge of £15.
Section 2(1) outlines that it is the duty of every employer to try and ensure that persons in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety, while Section 3(1) states that it is the duty of every employer to try and make sure that persons not in their employment who may be affected thereby are not exposed to risks to their health or safety.
David Bibby, HSE inspector, said: “This case highlights the importance of assessing risks and putting adequate controls in place to protect pedestrians from vehicles, and the tragic consequences when this is not properly done.”
“This should serve as a message to all companies, and especially those in the waste industry where unfortunately accidents like this are all too common, to ensure that risks from workplace transport are identified and suitable measures put in place to prevent accidents,” he added.
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