Bus company prosecuted after worker is crushed

Date:

8 February 2012

Release No:

COILDN/0812

A tour bus operator has been fined after a mechanical engineer suffered serious injuries while working underneath one of its vehicles.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted The Original London Sightseeing Tour Limited for failing to prevent the incident, which happened on 21 October 2009.

Westminster Magistrates' Court heard the 58-year-old employee was working underneath the vehicle at a bus depot at Ferry Lane, Rainham, Essex while reseating an airbag on one of the firm's open topped London buses. The vehicle had been raised approximately two feet off the ground and was supported on its axles by wooden blocks and column vehicle lifts.

The court was told the man, who does not want to be named, was being assisted by a colleague who was raising and lowering the bus using the vehicle lift control on his instruction. However, one of the wooden blocks broke and the axle dropped onto the mechanic breaking his pelvis and several ribs. He was hospitalised for two weeks, could not work for six months, and still suffers from pain.

The HSE investigation found risk assessments for the site had not been properly reviewed, nor were site engineers involved in the risk assessment process. Had this been done, the company could have used another set of vehicle lifts available at the time of the incident or taken the tri-axle buses to another depot where there were numerous vehicle pits.

Following the hearing, HSE Inspector, Jane Wolfenden said:

"The use of wooden blocks in this way could easily have resulted in a fatality. It was foreseeable that the blocks were likely to give way, putting the lives of employees at risk.

"Had the company carried out an effective risk assessment that involved site engineers, this entirely preventable incident could have been avoided."

The Original London Sightseeing Tour Limited, registered at Admiral Way, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear was fined £10,500 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000 for breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

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. Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc 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."

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