Building company fined after digger runs over worker

Date:

24 March 2010

Release No:

YH/124/10

An East Yorkshire building company was today (24 March) prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a construction worker suffered serous injuries when he was run over by a digger.

Brothers Bryan Christopher Kendra and Michael Antony Kendra of L & S Kendra & Sons, Meadow Bank, Melbourne, East Yorkshire, were each fined £9,000 and each ordered to pay £2,500 in costs after both men pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Beverley Magistrates Court heard that on 29 July 2009, at a construction site at May Cottage, Mill Lane, Seaton Ross, Bryan Kendra was driving a reversing 360 degree excavator digger, when it struck and drove over bricklayer, Andrew Trezise.

Mr Trezise, 56, from Pocklington, suffered a broken pelvis and serious leg injuries in the incident.

The HSE investigation found that there were no markings to indicate where the digger was working, to ensure that it was separated from pedestrian movements on site. A reversing assistant had not been deployed to oversee reversing manoeuvres for the digger prior to the incident.

After the hearing HSE Inspector Geoff Clark said:

"Andrew Trezise should have been able to carry out his duties on the construction site without being seriously injured.

"L & S Kendra and Sons failed to have proper systems in place at the site to restrict and control the movement of the digger.

"As a result workers on the site were left at serious risk. It is essential that steps are taken to segregate moving machinery, such as diggers, from other people on site".

Notes to editors

1. Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."
2. HSE is Britain's national regulator for workplace safety and health. It aims to reduce injuries and illness in the workplace.
3. Further information on health and safety can be found online at www.hse.gov.uk

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