A recycling firm in Bolton has been ordered to pay nearly £130,000 in fines and costs after one of its employees was crushed between two trucks at a recycling plant and suffered serious injuries.
The 61-year-old man from Towyn, North Wales, suffered fractures to his ribs and right collar bone, a punctured right lung and multiple bruises in the incident, which happened in February 2010.
Manchester Crown Court heard how DS Smith Paper Ltd failed to ensure the safety of the worker at its Severnside site. The jury was told how, as the man got out of his truck and was closing its rear doors using two buttons at the side of the vehicle, another truck reversed into the warehouse through a separate doorway, trapping him between his own HGV and the other vehicle.
At the time of the incident, there were no barriers in place to separate vehicles entering the tipping shed through different doors, with no supervisor present to indicate whether it was safe for drivers to enter the site.
The company was fined by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) last Tuesday (11th June 2013) and found guilty of breaching the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 through failing to ensure that the site was safe for vehicles and pedestrians.
Since the incident, the company has introduced new safety procedures, meaning that only one HGV is allowed in the warehouse, with a new designated safety area for pedestrians.
Families of British soldiers killed in Iraq will be able to bring claim against UK Government
The families of British soldiers killed in Iraq will be able to pursue damages against the Government, under a new ruling by the Supreme Court.
The landmark judgement comes after a long legal battle and previous judgements by the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Legal action was brought by the families of three men killed by roadside bombs whilst travelling in Snatch Land Rovers and a Challenger tank.
The judges ruled that, under human rights legislation, the families could make damages claims and sue for negligence.
The relatives of Phillip Hewitt, Lee Ellis and Kirk Redpath, who died between 2005 and 2007, want to make claims for damages under Article Two of the European Convention on Human Rights, which inflicts a duty on authorities, in this case the Army, to protect the right to life.
Other claims were also bought by the relatives of those killed in Iraq as a result of such attacks.
The court rejected an argument from the Ministry of Defence that the claims should be struck out because the battlefield was beyond the reach of the legislation, concluding that, at the time of their deaths, the soldiers were within the UK’s jurisdiction and consequently were subject to human rights legislation.
Susan Smith, mother of Phillip Hewett, said the judgement was “absolutely brilliant”.