Tyre firm fined £1 Million after a young worker killed

A Kent tyre company has been sentenced and fined £1,000,000 (one million pounds) after a young worker killed following for safety failings that resulted in a tyre exploding.

Canterbury Crown Court heard how the young employer (MH), an employee of Watling Tyre Service Limited of Kent, was repairing a puncture to the tyre of a ‘dresser loading shovel’ when it exploded. The investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that MH was working on his own with inadequate work equipment which was not properly maintained. He was neither trained nor competent to undertake the work he was told to complete.

The prosecutor said:

“The failings of the company which led to the breaches of Health and Safety regulations were clear.”

“They relate to the risks inherent in changing large tyres. That risk emanated from an inadequate system of training and supervision and an unsafe system of work

“That work had not been properly assessed for risk nor was the risk in any way mitigated. There was also failings in respect of the supply and maintenance of equipment supplied to employees.”

Following the hearing, HSE Principal Inspector Mike Walters said: “Employees need to be provided with properly maintained equipment and the correct equipment to undertake tasks while out on site. Employees also need to be trained and competent in the tasks they were asked to undertake.”

Watling Tyre Service Limited pleaded guilty, at a previous hearing in January 2016, to breaches of Section 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 were today fined £1 million and ordered to pay costs of £99,485.

How to avoid headlines such as “Young Worker Killed”

To avoid incidents such as the one outlined above, companies need to:

• carry out a risk assessment
  • In this case, of the tyre inflation process
• implement suitable controls to avoid the risk or to control the risk to an appropriate level
  • documented safe procedures
  • training
  • tyre inflation cage