Building firm fined £60,000 after lift truck death

An accident occurred at an housing development on August 7th 2000 which resulted in the death of a 20 year old employee. It took place at a site in Basingstoke and Southampton Crown Court heard how the deceased was operating a cement mixer when he was accidentally struck by a fork lift truck.

The truck was being used to transport mortar and was being driven by an untrained operator. The collision caused fatal crushing injuries. The 20 year old was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.

The court heard that the exact details of the accident were unknown as the lift truck operator did not see the victim and believed that he was standing a safe distance from the truck at the time.

The court heard how both the company and it's director had failed to ensure that the truck was being driven by a trained operator and that the director had instructed the untrained worker to drive the machine when the regular driver failed to turn up for work. Because of this - when a lift truck driver was again required during the same day - the company's foreman instructed the same person to drive it again.

Oba Nsugbe prosecuting on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive said that if the truck had been driven by a suitably trained driver the accident could have been avoided.

The fines consisted of £40,000 under section 2 of the Health and safety at Work Act and the director was also fined £20,000 under section 37 of the same act. The full prosecution costs of £8,799 were also ordered to be payed split two thirds payable by the company and one third by the director.