Death at Work – Agency worker crushed while unloading lorry

Death at Work – it’s never a headline you want to read or to be featured in.

A logistics company has recently been fined £373,000 after a worker was crushed while unloading a vehicle from a visiting delivery lorry.  Southend Magistrates’ Court heard how an agency worker was unchaining a vehicle ramp from a delivery lorry when the vehicle moved forward with one chain still attached to the ramp, crushing the worker between the ramp and a barrier.

The HSE have Investigated the incident, which happened in December 2015, and HSE found that the employer (Eriks Industrial Services) had failed to fully control the risks arising from the operation of vehicle loading and unloading ramps. In particular, the company:

• did not implement suitably robust systems of work
• did not provide sufficient training to allow workers to safely unload vehicles
• failed to appropriately brief visiting drivers on their role in this activity.

Death at Work leads to fine

Eriks Industrial Services of Amber Way, Halesowen, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £373,000 and ordered to pay costs of £8,333.

Speaking after the case, HSE inspector Tim Underwood said:

This incident could have been avoided if the company had created a more detailed risk assessment and introduced a fully considered safe system of work.

Removing the visiting lorry driver’s keys until the procedure was safely completed, is one such method which could have prevented such an occurrence.

Companies have a responsibility to provide sufficient information, instruction and training to all those involved in workplace transport operations (including visiting delivery drivers), in order to control the risk of serious personal injury.

Derriford firm on trial following the death of a worker crushed by a lorry

A case is currently being heard (as of 09 April 2018). A waste company has gone on trial accused of health and safety failings in the lead-up to the death of a worker crushed to death by a runaway lorry. A Viridor worker [LJ] died when his skip lorry rolled down a hill at Derriford Hospital and smashed into a wall. Link