Shanley of Wiltshire Fined after Fatal Accident
HSE prosecutors brought charges against Shanley and Sons of Trowbridge, in an incident involving an employee fatality at work. The company is engaged in the business of recycling waste products. A fine of £80,000 and costs of £25,000 have been imposed by the Crown Court at Swindon.
The judgement comes on the heels of another similar case involving UK’s largest port, where the employer was found guilty of failing to implement proper safety measures at the workplace.
The accident occurred in 2007, when employee Bert Reeves, aged 62, was run over by a reversing lorry as he was carrying out his work behind the vehicle in the tipping area. HSE investigators found that Reeves had been in a place where he was not visible to the driver of the vehicle. Further, they noted that the work area was a high-risk zone, where proper systems and procedures were completely lacking.
Moreover, the area that was used to process skip waste was found to be heavily cluttered. All these causes had led to the tragic accident. The driver of the lorry was however not prosecuted.
The company was charged with two breaches- first, a breach of a section of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and second, a breach of the 1992 Regulations pertaining to health, safety and welfare of employees at the workplace, which clearly state the necessity for safety measures where workers and vehicles operate at the same location. Companies should make themselves fully aware of the most up-to-date requirements by visiting Workplace Law and looking at their highly regarded IOSH Managing Safely course.
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