Company fined following wheel loader plunge
HUMBERSIDE Aggregates and Excavations Ltd, of North Cave, East Yorkshire, have been fined £30,000 after a 30-tonne wheel loader vehicle overturned and slid almost 16ft down a sand stockpile.
The company was also ordered to pay £10,590 in costs after pleading guilty to three separate breaches of the Quarries Regulations 1999 in the prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Beverly Magistrates Court heard that an employee, who does not wish to be identified, was being trained as a wheel loader operator at North Cave Quarry, Humberside Aggregates and Excavations Ltd’s sand and gravel extraction and processing facility.
On 30 October 2009, he was transporting sand from a stockpile when the access ramp edge he was driving on gave way, which caused the machine to overturn and plunge almost 16ft because there were no edge protection barriers in place.
As a result, the trainee suffered concussion, lost consciousness and was hospitalized for two days.
Humberside Aggregates and Excavations were prosecuted by the HSE for failing to assess, identify and minimize potential risk, and for ultimately failing to protect the worker.
Following the hearing, HSE inspector Richard Noble said: ‘This accident could have been avoided had sufficient edge protection been put in place at minimal cost, which has been the standard within the quarrying industry for many years.
‘Workplace transport is the industry’s biggest cause of fatal accidents within the industry, and that is why the industry and HSE work together in a joint advisory committee to introduce good practices for quarry operators.
‘We are working very hard to reduce these accidents and fatalities. The HSE produces much guidance on how to avoid them, so the reasons why this accident occurred are inexcusable.’
The company was also ordered to pay £10,590 in costs after pleading guilty to three separate breaches of the Quarries Regulations 1999 in the prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Beverly Magistrates Court heard that an employee, who does not wish to be identified, was being trained as a wheel loader operator at North Cave Quarry, Humberside Aggregates and Excavations Ltd’s sand and gravel extraction and processing facility.
On 30 October 2009, he was transporting sand from a stockpile when the access ramp edge he was driving on gave way, which caused the machine to overturn and plunge almost 16ft because there were no edge protection barriers in place.
As a result, the trainee suffered concussion, lost consciousness and was hospitalized for two days.
Humberside Aggregates and Excavations were prosecuted by the HSE for failing to assess, identify and minimize potential risk, and for ultimately failing to protect the worker.
Following the hearing, HSE inspector Richard Noble said: ‘This accident could have been avoided had sufficient edge protection been put in place at minimal cost, which has been the standard within the quarrying industry for many years.
‘Workplace transport is the industry’s biggest cause of fatal accidents within the industry, and that is why the industry and HSE work together in a joint advisory committee to introduce good practices for quarry operators.
‘We are working very hard to reduce these accidents and fatalities. The HSE produces much guidance on how to avoid them, so the reasons why this accident occurred are inexcusable.’
