Recycling company fined for health and safety fatality
A £200,000 fine has been levied on SITA UK, a recycling company. The company was fined for a 2008 incident wherein a 21-year-old employee died. The employee died from head injuries sustained when a skid steer loader crushed his head. He was killed instantly. The HSE was brought in for health and safety audits on the incident to determine the cause. They found enough issues with health and safety to state there were breaches and to have the company prosecuted.
During the investigations it was found the worker was not properly trained, but worked at the site for three months. The day of the incident, he was working on his own at the conveyor loading paper. Once he finished the job, the worker went to the loader to raise the safety bar. Unfortunately, the machine did not isolate, dropping the arm on to the worker’s head. The informal training, no supervisor, and other issues are the reason the prosecution occurred.
The court also heard that many used the machine without proper training. The machine was installed eight months prior to the worker joining the recycling plant. This makes things even worse to consider no one at the facility was properly trained and it had to end in a death. Proper training, risk assessments, and safety guidance would have prevented the incident according to HSE officials. A sad accident will hopefully help other companies learn the importance of safety and health.
