Worker died on first day at work

Date:

20 December 2010

Release No:

HSE-e-49

A Newmarket retail display firm has been sentenced after an employee was crushed to death by a stack of glass he was unloading on his first day at work.

Vitalijus Orlovas, 29, an agency worker originally from Lithuania, was unloading sheets of glass from a shipping container at Arken PoP's site in Hawkesden Road, St Neots when they fell on him. He died at the scene from the crush injuries.

Arken PoP Ltd, based at Studlands Park Avenue, Newmarket, specialises in point of purchase displays for many retail sectors. The company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation into the incident which happened on 18 August 2008.

Mr Orlovas was living in Peterborough at the time of his death and had just started his new job that morning.

The firm pleaded guilty at Peterborough Crown Court today breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at an earlier hearing and were fined £80,000 plus £16,914 costs.

The HSE investigation found that the company did not have adequate arrangements in place to unload the glass safely when the incident happened.

HSE Inspector David Head said:

"The tragic death of this young man should never have happened. Arken PoP did not carry out their legal duty to ensure the health and safety of people that were working for them - and the result was this horrific incident.

"This was a hazardous manual handling job which involved unloading several large sheets of glass, each of which weighed more than 100kg.

"It should have been planned properly and staff should have been fully trained in what to do. If there had been a safe system of work for this job this tragic death may not have happened."

Notes to editors

1. Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as it is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby and not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety."
2. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement.
3. Founded in 1948, Arken designs and manufactures point of purchase (P-O-P) and off the shelf retail display units. Its parent company is Media Square Ltd whose head office is in York Street, London W1U 6PL

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