Rotherham Council and a contractor working for the council have both been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), after an employee was killed when a truck reversed over him.

In May 2007, Rotherham Council employee Gordon Duffield was knocked down by an eight-wheeled tipper wagon operated by the council’s contractor, Brocklebank & Company (Demolition) Limited. The truck was delivering asphalt to a site on Fitzwilliam Road in Rotherham.

On Friday (26/02/10) at Doncaster Crown Court, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £18,350 costs.

Brocklebank & Company (Demolition) Limited of Doctor Lane in Sheffield pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 3(1) of the same legislation, and was fined £30,000 with £12,000 costs.

After the hearing, HSE Principal Inspector John Rowe said that Mr Duffield’s death ‘demonstrated all too clearly’ the need for the movement of workplace vehicles to be carefully managed so that employees and other pedestrians were not put at risk.

‘The council had a duty to protect their employee,’ said Mr Rowe. ‘Yet vehicle movements at the site were uncontrolled – despite the fact that tipper wagons had to reverse the length of the site.

‘No one was designated to direct the movement and unloading of the lorry,’ Mr Rowe added.

‘The council were also aware that the worker was partially deaf as a result of exposure to noise at work – but had made no assessment of his suitability to continue as a road worker.

‘Similarly, the contractor in this case had failed to take all reasonably practicable steps to protect those at the site from the risk of being hit by a reversing vehicle.

‘In particular, instructions for the driver to do a 360-degree check were not communicated –nor was CCTV fitted to eliminate the blind spot at the rear of the vehicle.’

After the hearing, Mr Duffield’s wife, Linda, and daughters Claire and Lyn said:

‘Gordon Duffield was a kind, loving husband, father and granddad who will be forever missed.

‘Losing someone you love in such a horrific way is an extremely difficult thing to come to terms with. Knowing their death could have been prevented makes the loss even more unbearable.

‘We can only hope that if anything positive can come out of the tragic circumstances we have found ourselves in, it is that lessons can be learned, and that lives can be saved through improved health and safety measures within companies and organisations in the same or similar industries.’

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