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This article was published on September 29th, 2014
A company has been fined £100k by the Health and Safety Executive for not correctly risk assessing a busy thoroughfare which was the scene of a serious accident.
The crown court heard that the 62 year old delivery driver was delivering a mortar silo to the site when the accident took place. The building project was the site of 159 new builds and therefore was a very busy site.
He was wearing high-visibility clothing at the time he was hit by a 9 tonne dumper lorry, when crossing the site on his way back to his lorry. The HSE’s investigation into the tragic accident found there was no safe and segregated area for pedestrians to cross parts of the site and that a there was no traffic management plan in place detailing where heavy vehicles were safe to go, avoiding pedestrian areas.
As a result of the accident the lorry driver suffered life changing injuries which included a severe brain injury. He spent two weeks in intensive care followed by a month in a high dependency unit. His quality of life has been changed forever and it has been an extremely traumatic experience for his family who now have to care for him.
The company was found guilty of failing to adequately manage and control workplace transport, breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £100k and ordered to pay legal costs of £100k.
An HSE Inspector said:”This terrible incident has left him with significant and lasting injuries and could easily have led to his death. It is unlikely he will be able to return to work again.
“Simple forethought and planning could have avoided this happening. They failed to identify risks to site workers and visitors, such as delivery drivers, in their construction phase plan and made no provision for segregating site vehicles and pedestrians at the top end of the site. Other workers on this large site were frequently exposed to serious risks as a result of this lack of planning.
“Workplace transport incidents are the second most common cause of serious and fatal incidents in the construction industry, yet they could easily be avoided by having proper plans in place and provision for pedestrians on site.”
Accidents involving vehicle collisions on construction and mobile sites have been responsible for 93 serious injuries and on average kill 7 workers each year. If you know someone who has been injured as a result of an accident in the workplace then contact our experienced solicitors now to discuss a potential work place negligence claim. Although compensation can never repair the damage done after a catastrophic injury, it can help to pay for lifelong care including respite care and also help modify homes and vehicles to improve quality of life.
We offer a free initial interview in order to review your specific circumstances and assess the viability of your claim. After this, the majority of claims are dealt with on a
no win – no fee basis.
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