Fines for breach of Health & Safety Law - 12/03/2010

The Royal Mail have been fined £90,000 after admitting to health and safety breaches following the death of an employee who was crushed by a reversing heavy goods vehicle (HGV).

In September a yard shunter was fatally injured at Royal Mail's Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre. The incident happened when a Royal Mail HGV driver was reversing his tractor to line up with a trailer unit parked at a loading bay at the Centre.

After lining up his vehicle, the driver left his cab and walked to the back of the unit to complete the manoeuvre but found a colleague had been trapped between the tractor and the trailer. The colleague had been removing a lock from the trailer at the time and suffered fatal injuries.

Furthermore a building company was recently fined for putting workers at risk by using unsafe scaffolding.

In September 2009, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) made a routine inspection on a house extension in Beverley. The Inspector found an employee working on scaffolding that was unsafe and posed a risk of serious, if not fatal, injuries.

The HSE's investigation revealed that employees working at the first floor extension were put at risk of a fall of up to four metres. The scaffolding had no edge protection in place, and an access ladder was too short and not secured.

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