Prosecutions

A Buckinghamshire engineering company has been fined £30,000 after a worker was crushed to death at its premises.

The employee was acting as a banksman and was guiding a reversing heavy goods delivery vehicle towards a doorway when he was killed.

As he was guiding the lorry into the loading area he became trapped between the back of the vehicle and the building’s brick wall. He died at the scene from crush injuries to his chest.

Milton Keynes Crown heard the employee had not received training as a banksman.  An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) also showed there was no specific need for a banksman during the reversing process; it had merely become customary at the site.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.  The company was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay costs of £11,630.

The HSE inspector who investigated the incident commented:

"This tragic case illustrates the risks that are associated with deliveries and reversing vehicles.

"It is vital that employers fully assess the risks involved in deliveries to site. Banksmen should only be used when there are no safer available methods to control reversing and then only when people have been fully trained to undertake that role."