Contractor fined after boy injured on construction site

Date:

23 November 2010

Release No:

WW833

An employer has been fined after a 14-year-old boy was injured when he overturned a dumper truck on a construction site.

Kevin Banks, a building contractor from Stroud, employed the boy to work for him on a site on Rodborough Common. It is illegal for children who are still of compulsory school age to work on construction sites.

Police photo of the overturned dumper truck

Gloucester Magistrates' Court heard how on 13 April 2010, the boy overturned the one-tonne dumper truck when driving down a slope. He was not wearing a seatbelt and suffered serious leg and foot injuries.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found Mr Banks had failed to properly plan, manage and monitor the work to ensure the boy and others were not put at risk.

Other untrained employees had also driven the dumper truck, often without wearing seatbelts, on some steep slopes.

After the hearing, Sue Adsett, HSE inspector, said:

"Children and construction work do not mix. As this incident shows, construction sites can be very dangerous, and children tend to have less experience and less awareness of what could go wrong.

Police photo of the overturned dumper truck

Furthermore, anyone operating site dumpers should be able to prove their competence, for instance by holding an industry-recognised driver's card."

Kevin Banks, trading as KB Building Services, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with section 13(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,052.

Notes to editors

1. Section 13(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 state that: "Every contractor shall plan, manage and monitor construction work carried out by him or under his control in a way which ensures that, so far as is reasonably practicable, it is carried out without risks to health and safety."
2. Guidance on the risks and control measures relating to dumpers on construction sites can be found in HSG150 "Health and Safety in construction", HSG144 "The safe use of vehicles on construction sites" and CIS52 "Construction site transport safety: Safe use of site dumpers".
3. A teenager is of compulsory school ag if they have not yet got to the end of the school year in which they are 16.
4. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce 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. www.hse.gov.uk

Press enquiries

Regional reporters should call the appropriate Regional News Network press office.

Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News and PR South West