Skip lorry driver crushed by loading shovel

The driver of a skip lorry was just taking the net off a skip when a wheeled loader ran into him.

Mold Magistrates’ Court heard how on 6th June 2019, a skip lorry driver drove into the waste management yard area of Thorncliffe Building Supplies in Abergele and parked his vehicle. As he was removing the net from the skip, a loading shovel from the same company trapped him against the lorry.

He sustained life changing injuries including fractures to his pelvis and a crushed bowel.

An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found that the system of work to control risks from transport was not fully adequate and not monitored. As a result, workers were exposed to unnecessary risks.

At the time of the incident the inner banksman, responsible for managing traffic at the site, was not at his station and there were no measures in place to prevent vehicles entering the site.

Thorncliffe Building Supplies Limited of Allt y Graig, Meliden Road, Rhyl pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It was fined £180,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,856.

HSE inspector Sarah Baldwin-Jones said after the case: “This incident could so easily have been avoided by simply following correct control measures and safe working practices. Monitoring of the safe working practice and CCTV evidence would have highlighted risks created when the banksman left the yard area. A rising barrier fitted at the yard entrance, or relief cover for the banksman during the day, would have prevented this incident occurring.”

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