Rotherham council and contractor fined after employee killed by reversing truck

Date:

26 February 2010

Release No:

YH/073/10

Rotherham Council was today fined £75,000 after an employee was killed by a reversing truck.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) also prosecuted contractor Brocklebank & Company (Demolition) Limited over the incident during a council road surfacing operation.

Gordon Duffield, a council employee, was knocked down by an eight-wheeled tipper wagon operated by Brocklebank as it delivered asphalt to a site on Fitzwilliam Road, Rotherham, on 4 May 2007.

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council was fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £18,350 costs in relation to the incident after pleading guilty to a section 2(1) breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at Doncaster Crown Court.

Brocklebank & Company (Demolition) Limited of, Doctor Lane, Sheffield, also pleaded guilty to a breach of section 3(1) of the same legislation, and was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £12,000 costs.

After the hearing, HSE Principal Inspector John Rowe said:

"Mr Duffield's death demonstrates all too clearly the need for the movement of workplace vehicles to be carefully managed so that employees and other pedestrians are not put at risk.

"The council had a duty to protect their employee. Yet, vehicle movements at the site were uncontrolled despite the fact that tipper wagons had to reverse the length of the site.

"No one was designated to direct the movement and unloading of the lorry. The council were also aware that the worker was partially deaf as a result of exposure to noise at work - but had made no assessment of his suitability to continue as a road worker.

He continued: "Similarly, the contractor in this case had failed to take all reasonably practicable steps to protect those at the site from the risk of being hit by a reversing vehicle. In particular, instructions for the driver to do a 360 degree check were not communicated nor was CCTV fitted to eliminate the blind spot at the rear of the vehicle."

Mr Duffield's family, including wife Linda and daughters Claire and Lyn, added: "Gordon Duffield was a kind, loving husband, father and granddad who will be forever missed.

"Losing someone you love in such a horrific way is an extremely difficult thing to come to terms with. Knowing their death could have been prevented makes the loss even more unbearable.

"We can only hope that if anything positive can come out of the tragic circumstances we have found ourselves in, it is that lessons can be learned, and that lives can be saved through improved health and safety measures within companies and organisations in the same or similar industries."

Notes to editors

1. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA) 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, the health and safety at work of all their employees."
2. Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA) 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 might be affected thereby were not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety."
3. Further news and information can be found online at www.hse.gov.uk

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