Firm pleads guilty after fatal accident

19 January 2009

A waste management firm has been heavily fined after a fatal workplace accident involving a lorry.

Associate Waste Management was fined £75,000 and ordered to pay an additional £10,000 in court costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2 of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act.

The sentence, handed down at Bradford Crown Court last week, relates to an incident in April 2007 when an 18-year old employee was killed by a reversing lorry which had no visual aids, audible warning system or guidance.

After the case, HSE inspector Paul Robinson drew attention to the dangers of transport in the workplace: “Transport, and the failure to plan for the safe movement of vehicles, is a major cause of death and injury in the workplace.

“In 2006/2007 there were 50 deaths and 1,449 major accidents caused by vehicles at work. However, with careful management most of these incidents could have been avoided.”