Welsh company Williams Haulage Limited has been fined £100,000 after a Waberer’s lorry driver fell from a loading bay and died in hospital from head injuries.
The Health and Safety Executive investigated the incident and found that the accident could have been avoided if control measures had been in place. The company had carried out a risk assessment, but the control measures had not been put into practice.
A fall with devastating consequences
When the HSE investigated the incident, it found that the 63-year-old lorry driver, from Hungary, had been preparing a load of trailers in his lorry before leaving the Williams Haulage Limited site on Deeside Industrial Estate on 16 March 2020. The load of trailers was to be delivered to a site in Germany. He was not employed by Williams Haulage.
The man was trying to reach the top of his lorry, with one foot on the loading bay and the other on the back of another lorry.
However, he fell approximately 1.25 metres onto the concrete floor below when the adjacent lorry was driven away.
He sustained severe head injuries and died at the Royal Stoke University Hospital on 16 May 2020.
£100,000 fine – “This incident could so easily have been avoided”
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into this incident found Williams Haulage had carried out a risk assessment that identified the risk from falls and introduced control measures, but these had not been used in practice.
There was a lack of supervision and monitoring by Williams Haulage to check that these control measures were being used by its staff.
Additionally, insufficient consideration had been given to visiting drivers, particularly when English is not their first language.
The Welsh company Williams Haulage Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, which states:
“It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.”
The company was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £8,400.50 in costs at Llandudno Magistrates’ Court on 20 September 2023.
HSE inspector Matthew Pendle said:
“This incident could so easily have been avoided had the company simply ensured the control measures and safe working practices were followed and that visiting drivers were informed of the site’s safety rules.”