As a council we have taken this incident very seriously and implemented a comprehensive review of our procedures to ensure that we take every measure to prevent this happening again
Andrew Kerr, North Tyneside council
The council last month pleaded guilty to breaching section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (see letsrecycle.com story) and was last week prosecuted and also ordered to pay £7,365 in costs.
The prosecution comes after Brian Kindred was struck by a reversing refuse vehicle near his home in Allanville, Camperdown on May 2 2006 and died.
HSE inspector Stephen Britton said: “This is a tragic case where we found that the council's safety management procedures were not adequate. There was no supervision in place, training was cursory and did not cover guiding vehicles in any way.”
“Had the council followed the simple and straight forward control measures that have been specifically designed for the waste and recycling industry such as, training their operators to warn the driver about pedestrians walking close to the vehicle, Mr Kindred would not have died,” he added.
Safeguards
North Tyneside council has now committed to undertaking a number of “additional safeguards”, such as affixing cameras on the rear of its 35 refuse collection vehicles, improved electronic reversing aids and comprehensive training for all members of staff during the manoeuvering, loading and unloading of vehicles.
Andrew Kerr, chief executive of North Tyneside council said: “At this time the most important thing is to offer our continued sympathies and apologies to Mr Kindred's family.
“This was a tragic accident and we have co-operated fully with Northumbria Police and the Health and Safety Executive throughout this investigation. As a council we have taken this incident very seriously and implemented a comprehensive review of our procedures to ensure that we take every measure to prevent this happening again.”
He added: “These measures are complemented by the stringent national guidelines for local authorities issued by the Health and Safety Executive, since this incident, in recognition of the many similar serious and fatal accidents around the country during the collection and processing of municipal waste and recycling activities.”
The news of the prosecution of North Tyneside council comes just a day after the HSE expressed concern over the number of accidents in the waste and recycling sector (see letsrecycle.com story).
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