The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a waste management company after a lorry driver was killed at a landfill site in Northamptonshire.

In January 2007, 32-year-old driver Gary Carter of Kidwelly, Dyfed in Wales, arrived at the site to empty his refuse lorry. Due to the wet weather, drivers required assistance at the tipping site because of the soft ground conditions.

After being towed to the tipping area by a bulldozer, Mr Carter discharged only part of his load – to shed the remainder, he needed to move forward but his lorry had become bogged down in soft ground.

The driver of the compactor – which was spreading the rubbish behind his lorry – radioed Mr Carter to say he would drive up behind his lorry and push it forward with his own vehicle.

At the same time, the bulldozer reversed up to the front of Mr Carter’s lorry to give him a tow. Both operators tried to help Mr Carter move, but without communicating with each other.

When the compactor started to push the lorry forward, Mr Carter was attaching a tow rope from the bulldozer to the front of his lorry and was crushed to death between his lorry and back of the bulldozer. He died at the scene.

On Monday (24/05/10) at Northampton Crown Court, SITA UK of Grenfell Road, Maidenhead in Berkshire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. SITA UK was fined £210,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £38,000.

The court had been told by the prosecution that new working arrangements had been introduced a few days before the accident without having been properly risk assessed – and SITA had not defined the supervisory roles for their staff on the site. Site rules for pushing lorries were also ‘ambiguous’.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Roy Bush said:

‘Every company has a legal responsibility to take care of people working on their site – whether they are employed by them or not – in whatever circumstances they are asked to operate.

‘Assessing risks, mitigating them wherever possible or stopping work as appropriate is the least people should expect from companies.

‘Employers need to ensure their staff understand their roles and responsibilities in making sure sites like this operate to clear site safety rules,’ said Mr Bush.

‘In this case, the prosecution shows that this has not happened and Mr Carter’s family have lost him as a result.’

© 5r1 Limited 2010