MV Kelly Ltd of Tyseley, Birmingham, has been fined £500,000 with £30,000 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 27(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The company was also ordered to pay a £120 victim surcharge.
North Staffordshire Justice Centre heard how a ground worker was working on the development site of more than 370 houses at Burntwood Business Park on 15 October 2015.
At the time of the incident, a number of tipper trucks were delivering material to the site and various ground workers were directing drivers to different areas.
-- Advertisement --
While walking along along a haul road in an attempt to attract the attention of a vehicle in another area of the site, the victim was struck and run over by a tipper truck. He suffered serious injuries including several broken bones in both legs and feet and severe damage to the blood vessels in his legs. As a result, the victim had to have his right leg amputated to the knee more than 12 months following the incident.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that there were insufficient protected walkways across the site and that there was no control over access to the site. In addition, the investigation found there was an accepted practice of walking on haul roads and that there was a lack of an up to date traffic management plan.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Katherine Blunt said: "Incidents like this should never be allowed to take place. Construction sites should be organised in a way which prevents pedestrians and vehicles coming into contact with each other.
"This incident resulted in a worker sustaining life-changing injuries and should serve as a reminder to principal contractors of the need to properly organise construction sites to keep workers and members of the public safe."
(LM/MH)
