Engineering contractor fined after employee suffers accident at work

24/01/2012

An engineering company has been fined GBP 12,500 and ordered to pay GBP 29,660 in costs after an employee suffered severe injuries when using an excavator.

A maintenance fitter employed by Nottinghamshire firm Van Elle Ltd was driving the excavator during work on the M1 motorway in the Midlands between junction 25 and 28 when its boom hit a bridge.

The worker was not wearing his seatbelt and was thrown over the steering column and through the open front screen, hitting his head on the front excavator blade.

He suffered severe head injuries and was in a coma for two weeks following the incident and is still undergoing rehabilitation with a physiotherapist in order to regain full function in his left arm and leg.

An investigation carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the driver, who has asked not be named, had not received adequate training to use the excavator.

The company had assessed his ability to carry out lifting operations, but on the day of the incident he was standing in for a fellow employee.

Mansfield magistrates were told he was driving through the site with the excavator boom at an unsafe height, contrary to the manufacturer's guidelines, which state that the boom must not be more than four metres high while travelling.

In this case, the machine was being driven with the boom elevated to more than six metres.

The firm pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Kevin Wilson said that the employee was lucky to escape the accident at work with his life.

"These injuries were wholly preventable had the company ensured the driver had adequate training in safe travel positions for manoeuvring the excavator on the construction project."

Posted by Wayne Weir

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