A waste management company has been sentenced for safety breaches after an employee and an agency worker both fell from height.
Back in September 2018, an employee of a waste management company was walking across a first-floor gantry at the company’s premises when one of the mesh panels gave way beneath his feet, he fell approximately four metres into the bay below and sustained a double break to the left leg, a break into his right leg and a broken ankle in the incident. A nearby agency worker came to assist him however, he also fell through the missing floor and subsequently suffered a dislocated and fractured shoulder.
Having conducted an investigation, the HSE found that the mesh panel gave way because the clips which held it in position had become dislodged after a shovel loader which had been working in the bay beneath the gantry struck the frame of the gantry repeatedly resulting in a number of the clips which held the gantry’s panels in place, becoming loose or dislodged.
The company was fined £760,000 and ordered to pay costs of £16,170 after pleading guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
HSE Inspector Darian Dundas said: “The company did not have a suitable inspection regime in place. This incident could so easily have been avoided by simply carrying out correct control measures and safe working practices.”
