A Maidenhead-based waste management and recycling firm that
admitted breaching health and safety laws after a driver was killed
in a landfill site
work accident has been fined £210,000 at Northampton Crown
Court.
SITA UK Limited will also pay costs of £38,000 in connection
with the incident, which saw Gary Carter, 32, of Kidwelly, Dyfed,
crushed to death at the Cranford site near Kettering,
Northamptonshire in January 2007.
Mr Carter was crushed between his refuse lorry and a bulldozer
that was trying to help him manoeuvre in wet weather and soft
ground conditions. He had been attempting to attach a tow rope to
the bulldozer when a compactor pushed from the opposite side of his
vehicle.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said newly introduced
working arrangements at the site had not been properly
risk-assessed, workers had not been adequately briefed on
supervisory roles and rules on pushing lorries were ambiguous.
HSE inspector Roy Bush said: "Every company has a legal
responsibility to take care of people working on their site,
whether they are employed by them or not, in whatever circumstances
they are asked to operate. In this case, the prosecution shows that
this has not happened and Mr Carter's family have lost him as a
result."