Worker crushed between two skips

Date:

15 August 2011

Release No:

SCO/056/11

An Ayr recycling company was fined £80,000 after a worker was severely injured when he was crushed between two skips.

On 26 August 2009, Steven Graham was standing in between two skips at a recycling centre run by Lowmac Alloys Ltd when a shovel loader weighing more than 18 tonnes hit one of the skips, pushing it towards the other and crushing Mr Graham between them.

Mr Graham, 46, from Ayrshire, screamed for help but the driver of the shovel loader did not hear him at first and carried on driving. When he realised that Mr Graham was injured, the driver tried to lift one of the skips away from Mr Graham but it took two attempts before he managed to do so.

Mr Graham was taken to Ayr Hospital by ambulance. He was treated for a broken pelvis and other severe, life-changing injuries. He continues to have difficulty in walking.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the company had not properly risk assessed traffic management at their site in Ayr and had not provided and maintained a safe system of work in that there were no barriers or road markings to separate pedestrian workers from the shovel loader or other vehicles on site. The investigation also found that the shovel loader was too big for the area where it was operating, and that the drivers had never been formally trained, were not supervised, and had been given no training at all on health and safety issues.

The one portable toilet on site was found to be unhygienic with no running water. Several of the employees told HSE inspectors that the toilet was so filthy they preferred to urinate in the yard, and this was a practice accepted by management. It was this situation that led to Mr Graham being in between the skips.

HSE Inspector Aileen Jardine said:

"Mr Graham suffered horrendous injuries that will affect him for the rest of his life - but this incident was entirely avoidable.

"If Lowmac had taken simple steps to protect their staff, carrying out a proper risk assessment and taking measures to separate employees from the heavy vehicles that operated on site, this would not have happened.

"And if the company had shown basic consideration for the welfare of their employees by providing a toilet that was fit to use, Mr Graham would not have been left in such a vulnerable position."

At Ayr Sheriff Court today (15 August 2011) Lowmac Alloys Ltd, of Green Street Lane, Ayr, plead guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974. They were fined £80,000.

Notes to editors

1. 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. www.hse.gov.uk
2. In Scotland the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has sole responsibility for the raising of criminal proceedings for breaches of health and safety legislation.
3. Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974 states that: "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."

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