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Agency worker loses leg to moving excavator

25 Feb 20 A waste management contractor has been fined £140,000 after an agency worker was struck by a moving excavator and had to have his lower leg amputated.

Image from HSE
Image from HSE

Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that on 12th September 2017, the worker had been observing a tipping activity in the blind spot of the excavator. When the excavator reversed to make way another vehicle tipping waste, the newly-hired agency worker had his leg crushed.

An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found no evidence of any induction system for newly-hired agency staff to be shown the site’s safety rules. The injured worker did not know he should have stood in the safe refuge areas while vehicles were moving around the site.

Peter Norris (Haulage) Ltd of Tower Bridge House, St Katharine’s Way, London, pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £140,000 and was ordered to pay full costs of £9,322.48.

HSE inspector John Spence said after the hearing: “This incident was entirely preventable and has caused a permanent and life-changing injury to a young agency worker. The company failed to implement an adequate system of monitoring of agency workers on site who were therefore, in effect, left to manage themselves without necessary oversight from the company.”

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MPU
MPU

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