![PP Construction Safety logo and link to home page [1]](http://www.ppconstructionsafety.com/wp-content/themes/ppcs960/images/ppcslogo.jpg)
Major waste company fined after worker suffers fatal crush injuries
Biffa Waste Services Ltd has been ordered to pay almost over £1/4m in fines and prosecution costs after a workman died after being struck by a shovel loader.
The incident occurred in February 2006 at Biffa’s Eversley Depot, a waste and reclamation site in Hampshire. The deceased workman was selecting and removing potentially valuable waste items when he was run over by the loader moving backwards and forwards through the area in which he was working.
Nina Judkins, HSE Inspector, said the death ”could have been avoided if the working practices had separated moving vehicles from people on foot. Between 2005-07, there were four fatal incidents in which people were hit by shovel loaders in a sorting or transport facility.”
Comment: This incident is non-construction. However, similar plant and situations exist on construction projects. Separation of vehicles and pedestrians is the key control measure coupled with safe vehicles and high levels of awareness amoung operators and persons that must be working nearby.