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HSE calls for careful driving in depots

THE Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning both employers and drivers about the consequences of not taking reasonable care for the safety of others after a council employee was struck and killed by a wheel loader at Dudley MBC’s Lister Road Depot on 27 October 2006.

Michael Lilley, a council employee and the driver of the vehicle, pleaded guilty to two breaches of Section 7 of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £750 and ordered to pay £500 in costs, while Dudley Metropolitan Council was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £20,000 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Wolverhampton Court heard how Mr Lilley drove against the direction of the site’s one-way system and had the loading shovel at a height that meant he could not see in front properly. Nor did he take suitable precautions to avoid damage to other vehicles or harm to pedestrians.

The victim, George Pagett, had been wearing a high-visibility jacket and was facing the oncoming traffic in the yard when he was hit in the upper back by the blade of the wheel loader’s bucket. Other employees had tried to warn Mr Pagett and divert Mr Lilley, but the vehicle did not stop until after the front wheel had run over him.

HSE inspector David Price said: ‘This was a terrible incident that could so easily have been prevented.

‘Depots and loading yards are potentially dangerous places, with vehicles often required to manoeuvre in tight or enclosed spaces. Employers need to provide set routes to keep pedestrians and vehicles safely apart. They also need to check their site rules and systems of work are both appropriate and adequately enforced.

‘Drivers need to obey signs and instructions in workplaces, just as closely as they would obey them on a public highway.

‘In driving at over 8 miles/h against the one-way system, with the unnecessarily raised bucket obscuring much of his view through the windscreen, Michael Lilley failed to take reasonable care for the health and safety of Mr Pagett.’

 
 

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