Sita UK fined for employee death
WASTE management and recycling firm Sita has been fined £200,000 following the death of a worker at its premises in Tipton in 2008.
The firm expressed deep regret over the incident and said it is working hard to improve its health and safety system.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the firm after Mark Bate was killed instantly when the arm of a JCB skid steer loader crushed his head in June 2008.
Wolverhampton Crown Court heard that Bate had been driving the vehicle at Sita’s premises on the Coneygre Industrial Estate for three months without being properly trained.
On the day of the incident, he had been working on his own loading scrap paper onto a conveyor.
HSE’s investigation found that Bate had not been formally trained, assessed or supervised in the use of the vehicle.
In addition, the court heard the loader had not been maintained in the eight months before the incident. It should have been serviced at least twice during this time.
