Construction company, Rose Builders, has been fined £225,000 after a worker was killed when a dumper truck overturned
Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard how on 3 October 2019, David Scott Green, a groundworker working for Rose Builders, was navigating a 9T front tipping dumper truck on a spoil heap to offload top soil at the Summers Park Development site in Colchester. Green lost control of the truck which toppled forward and came to rest upside down at the base of the spoil heap.
A colleague noticed the overturned dumper truck and ran over to assist, but Green had sustained a fatal head wound during the fall and died on scene.
HSE investigation
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the management of tipping operations on the spoil heaps lacked major planning.
The investigation established that the operation was not properly planned; drivers were not given instruction or training on how to safely operate vehicles and tip on spoil heaps, and the work itself was poorly supervised.
It also noted that the victim did not have his seat belt fastened and the inquiry confirmed that this was common practice on the site.
Rose Builders pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2 (1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company has been fined £225,000 and ordered to pay costs of £11,822.90.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Kasia Urbaniak, said: “This was a tragic and wholly avoidable incident, caused by the failure of the employer to assess the risk related to tipping operations, implement safe systems of work, and failure to ensure that such systems were communicated to groundworkers and were followed.”
