The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted West Bromwich-based Need a Skip Ltd for failing to ensure that workers and vehicles were safely segregated on the site.
A 24-year-old worker died of his injuries at the firm's premises when the loader struck him as he was crouching over a manhole to clean out a drain pump in the yard on 11 September 2006.
HSE's investigation found that there was no transport plan in place to segregate people from vehicles and the company's on-site health and safety training plan had not been adhered to.
Wolverhampton Crown Court was told that the company had previously been informed of the risks associated with workplace transport by HSE during a routine inspection.
After the hearing HSE inspector Karl Raw said: "Transport is one of the biggest causes of death and injury within the workplace, especially where the machinery in use is large. For this reason it is imperative that where people and machinery need to work in close proximity the employer ensures, wherever possible, that measures are implemented to segregate them or put in place suitable and effective measures to ensure safety of their employees.
"The ad hoc approach by Need a Skip to its on-site activities, combined with heavy machinery moving around, meant there was a high potential for an incident to occur.”
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