Worker was trapped between shovel loader and her lorry

Open-access content Wednesday 31st January 2018

From the archive: Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

The accident happened at Mac Skip Hire's site in Hinckley, Leicestershire, on 4 November 2015.

Leicester Magistrates' Court was told that the employee was trying to remove overhanging waste from a moving shovel loader when she was crushed between it and her lorry.

The Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) investigation found the company had failed to implement systems and site rules for loading operations.

It was served an improvement notice to ensure pedestrians and vehicles could circulate safely. This was complied with in February 2016.

Mac Skip Hire pleaded guilty to breaching s 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. It was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £14,500 costs.

HSE inspector Mark Austin said: "This was a tragic and wholly avoidable incident, caused by the failure to ensure that basic site controls and rules were being managed and enforced, such that pedestrians were not at risk from these large vehicles working in the area."

The road planer in the foreground on the stretch of road where the accident happened

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Kier’s subcontractor Sean Hegarty was also fined £75,000 for its role in the accident, which took place on a stretch of the B1063 north of Lidgate. The principal contractor, Kier Integrated Services, had employed Sean Hegarty to repair the road surface under a contract it had with Suffolk County Council.A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that on 13 May 2014, Hegarty workers were using a road planer to remove the tar from the southbound side of the road, while the northbound side had traffic lights to control the direction of the traffic.

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Aviation services co fined £502k after two hurt in separate falls

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The first accident happened while suitcases were being unloaded from an aircraft on to a flatbed lorry in June 2015.Luton Crown Court was told that a baggage handler team leader was standing on the back of the flatbed and instructed his colleague to take the bags to the inbound terminal. The colleague climbed into the cab of the lorry, checked his mirrors and drove away without noticing his boss was still on the vehicle. The team leader fell off and sustained spinal injuries that left him unable to work for eight weeks.

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The interior of the toilet cubicle on carriage 4805

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Friday 2nd February 2018

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Bad sequencing trapped worker between dumper and excavator

Thursday 25th January 2018

The incident happened in December 2014 during the ground preparation for laying a concrete slab at incinerator ash processor Ballast Phoenix in Sheffield.A 21-tonne tracked excavator was digging out an old steel cable duct from a trench where the concrete was due to be poured, and a dump truck was parked behind it.As the excavator tracked back while digging out the duct, Darren Richardson was crushed between the two machines.

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Tram safety steering group formed to act on recommendations after Croydon crash

Friday 9th February 2018

Seven people were killed and 62 injured when the tram, which was travelling at 73 kph when it approached a bend with a 20 kph speed limit, derailed and overturned at the Sandilands junction in south London. The RAIB published its report into the accident last December and made several recommendations.

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MoD handed Crown censure over death of Royal Navy engineer

Monday 12th February 2018

Neal Edmonds, 42, was carrying out maintenance work on a lift on HMS Bulwark when he was crushed inside the lift shaft. The MoD had failed to ensure there was a safe system of work to control the risks associated with lift maintenance, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found. The Royal Navy later reviewed its safety arrangements and implemented new operating procedures.

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