Firm fined over tipper truck death
A MANUFACTURING company has been fined more than £100,000 after a worker was crushed to death when a tipper truck overturned.
Plasmor (Halton) Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found it failed to have a safety system in place for the delivery of raw materials, despite several tipper trucks coming onto the site every day.
The Yorkshire-headquartered company pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety rules at Liverpool Crown Court.
The court was told that David Astley, 56, had taken a truck of limestone dust to the plant on Tanhouse Lane in Widnes in July 2013. The dust is used by the company to make concrete blocks and slabs for the construction industry.
The driver from Ellesmere Port, was tipping the load onto the site when another driver arrived at the plant with a second load of limestone. The second driver was told to empty his truck in the same place but, as he lifted the trailer, it overturned and fell on top of Mr Astley’s cab, causing his death.
The court was told the tipper trucks arriving on the site could weigh up to 44 tonnes and the risk of vehicles overturning is well known in the manufacturing and construction industry.
The HSE investigation found Plasmor had failed to carry out a risk assessment for the work and should have made sure vehicles were kept a safe distance apart. The person who directed the drivers onto the site had also not received suitable training.
Plasmor (Halton) Ltd, of Wormersley Road in Knottingley, was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £28,634 after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Jane Carroll said: “The company should have known there was a danger of tipper trucks overturning, and created exclusion zones to minimise the risk of anyone being injured. Instead, two drivers were allowed to empty their trailers next to each other.
“Plasmor has since changed its procedures so staff are properly trained and tipper trucks are kept at least 20 metres apart. If this system had been in place at the time of the incident then Mr Astley’s death could have been avoided.”
In a statement The Plasmore Group said: “On 13th July 2011, two vehicles from Nixon Transport Ltd were delivering Limestone to Plasmor’s Widnes Factory on behalf of Cemex Aggregates.
“Tragically, one of the vehicles overturned during tipping operations and landed on the cab of the other vehicle killing the driver instantly.
“Plasmor (Halton) was subsequently charged by the HSE under Section 3 of the Health and Safety Act 1974 for failing to operate a safe method of working in the aggregate reception area at the Widnes factory. The company pleaded guilty to this charge at the first hearing.
“In mitigation, the company stated that during the investigation into the accident, it was ascertained that the accident was caused by a number of factors; a puncture on the rear trailer of the overturning vehicle, worn chassis pivots on the overturning vehicle, 66% of the load of limestone remaining “hung “ in the tipper a the point where it was fully lifted and the 2.5% slope on the roadway where the overturning vehicle was tipping.
“The HSE contended that although these factors caused the vehicle to overturn, the death of the driver in the other vehicle could have been avoided had the company been operating an exclusion zone in the tipping area to prohibit two vehicles tipping in close proximity. The company accepts this argument and pleaded guilty on that basis.
“Since the accident which has had a profound effect on all those involved at the the Widnes factory , a significant number of changes have been made to working practices in the aggregate reception area at Widnes to bring operational standards in line with the rest of the Plasmor Group,” it added.
