Firm prosecuted after worker killed in fall from excavator
South Coast Skips fined after retired father of 10 dies in 9m fall from excavator bucket
WEST Sussex waste-management firm South Coast Skips Ltd and their owner have been prosecuted after a worker died and another was left seriously injured when they fell from an excavator bucket.
Lindsay Campbell, a 66-year-old father of 10, was killed when the bucket he was working in tipped causing him to fall 9m to the ground. Mr Campbell’s colleague, who was in the bucket alongside him, also fell and suffered severe leg injuries in the incident on 25 July 2012 at the company’s site on Rudford Industrial Estate in Arundel.
Chichester Crown Court heard that Mr Campbell had carried on working for Kevin Hoare, a director of South Coast Skips, despite recently retiring. On the day of the incident he was running an electric cable to power a trommel screen.
Mr Campbell decided to run the cable along a previously used route in the rafters of the shed and asked to be lifted in the excavator bucket. The excavator driver lifted both Mr Campbell and an agency worker but while they were positioning the cable the excavator’s hydraulic pressure dropped causing the bucket to tip forward. Both men fell 9m to the concrete floor.
The court also heard that nobody on site attempted to stop this activity taking place.
South Coast Skips Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act, 1974 and were fined £65,000 and ordered to pay costs of £25,000.
Mr Hoare pleaded guilty to section 37 of HASWA, 1974 and was given a 12 month custodial sentence suspended for 18 months.
Health and Safety Executive Inspector Graham Goodenough said: ‘This incident resulted in the death of a man who had only just retired and was looking forward to spending time with his children and grandchildren.
‘Nobody should ever be lifted in the bucket of an excavator. Neither the bucket nor the excavator have the necessary safety devices nor fail-safe devices that would prevent a person falling.
‘This company did not have in place the training and supervision, and especially the health and safety culture, that ensures that nobody would consider undertaking such an obviously unsafe act such as this.
‘On average, 50 people are killed each year by falls from height, so all companies, whatever their size, must have robust systems in place to prevent unsafe lifting practices. When lifting people, only equipment specifically designed for this activity should be used.’
