Waste Management Firm Fined by Health and Safety Executive

A Derbyshire waste management firm has been prosecuted following an incident in which a worker was crushed to death.

In June 2013, 24 year old Ashley Morris sustained fatal injuries to his head and spine when the bucket of the motorised loading shovel he was manning crushed him. At the time of the incident, Ashley was working for Rainbow Waste Management Limited at their site in Swadlincote.

Derby Crown Court heard that CCTV cameras at the site recorded more than two hundred examples of unsafe working practices in the ten days prior to the incident. Examples of such unsafe practices include workers performing dangerous operations with the shovel. The CCTV footage shows workers dodging out of the way of moving vehicles so as not to get hit and workers being lifted to height by the bucket.

After pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, Rainbow Waste Management Limited of Robian Way, Swadlincote, Derbyshire was fined a total of £136,000 and ordered to pay costs of £64,770.

Ashely’s mother, Mrs Josephine Morris, said:

“Family events are a constant reminder that Will is no longer with us. Will would text his dad every Saturday over the football scores. My husband and Will used to play golf together but my husband hasn’t played golf since.”

“Will always used to end his phone calls to me saying “I love you Mum” and even now every time when my grand-daughter says “I love you Nan” I have a lump in my throat, as that is what Will used to say and that was the last thing he ever said to me.”

Elizabeth Hornsby, HSE Principal Inspector, said:

“Rainbow Waste failed to put in place basic legal requirements of training and supervision. The death of this young man was entirely avoidable.”

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Source: Health & Safety Executive