HSE demands that loads are safely secured after driver dies

Date:

29 January 2009

Release No:

HSE/NW/036/09

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned employers that they must properly restrain loads on vehicles - whatever the distance travelled.

The warning follows the prosecution of Coastal Container Line Limited, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Company, after a driver died when his load of sheet steel shifted and punched through the back of his cab.

Coastal Container Line Limited was today fined £150,000 and ordered to pay costs of £26,732 at Liverpool Crown Court.

The company had earlier pleaded guilty to charges under Section 2(1) and Section 3 of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at South Sefton Magistrates Court and had been committed for sentence at the Crown Court.

The prosecution follows an incident on 14 September 2006 at Seaforth docks in Bootle, when 37-year-old Lawrence Allen was driving an HGV with approximately 25 tonnes of sheet steel loaded on a trailer.

The steel was being moved between Gladstone Steel Terminal and the quayside, using roads within the dock complex - a distance of around one and a half miles. As he slowed his vehicle on approach to a roundabout the load shifted and the sheet steel slid forwards and punched through the back of the cab, pinning him between his seat and the steering wheel. Mr Allen suffered crush injuries and died at the scene.

Kevin Jones, the HSE inspector who investigated the accident, said:

"The investigation identified a number of failings including a lack of planning and inadequate training for drivers. A key factor was the practice not to secure the steel but to rely upon the weight of the steel and friction to hold the load in place while the vehicle was moving.

"The transport of steel between the steel terminal and the quayside had been taking place in this manner for at least eight months, putting not only the drivers at risk but also members of the public using the roads within the dock complex.

"Employers must ensure that there is suitable and sufficient planning for transport operations, and make sure that loads are adequately restrained. Friction alone should never be relied upon to secure a load."

Notes to editors

1. Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as it is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."
2. Section 3(1) states "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety"

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