Skip firm to pay £170k over death of worker
A Black Country skip hire firm has been ordered to pay £170,000 after a worker was crushed by a vehicle weighing more than 13 tons, a court heard.
Wayne Meylan was unblocking a drain at Need-a-Skip Ltd, Brandon Way, West Bromwich, when he was hit by a Komatsu loader – a vehicle used to move waste.
Investigations following the 25-year-old's death exposed a breach of duty in health and safety at the firm, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday.
But prosecutors told the court they did not seek to prove the breach had caused Mr Meylan's death after a post mortem revealed he had taken a quantity of heroin just hours before. Mr Rex Tedd QC, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, said it was not certain if Mr Meylan would have become aware of the vehicle and taken steps to avoid it had he not taken the drugs.
Bosses from Need-a-Skip pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety Act by failing to ensure staff were not exposed to safety risks where reasonably practicable.
The firm was fined £45,000 for the breach and ordered to pay costs of £125,000. Mr Tedd said by its plea, directors at the firm acknowledged the breach of duty on the day of the fatality, September 11 2006, and for several weeks before. He said the firm had admitted its risk assessments had been "inadequate" and an informal practice to stop vehicles striking those on foot in the bottom yard was also not adequate.
It also did not have a plan in place to segregate people on foot from vehicles.
Mr Tedd said Mr Meylan's superior Sheldon Grant saw Mr Meylan, of Kings Heath, working on the drain and told him to stop but he did not do so. "It appears obvious the driver of the Komatsu did not see Mr Meylan. Others tried to give warning by shouting and sounding a lorry horn but without effect." Mr John Randall QC, defending, said the company had put a new traffic management scheme in place within weeks.
Judge Nicholas Webb said: "Although the breach of duty did not cause Mr Meylan's death it did result in the investigation where the breach was exposed. It is still a serious matter. Measures could and should have been put in place to make areas, especially the bottom yard area, safer."
Speaking after the hearing, Mr Meylan's uncle, Neil Meylan, said: "As was made clear, Wayne had his demons. He did have a drug problem. However he was working through those issues and was beginning to turn his life around.
"It is this which adds to the tragedy of what happened to him."
