Haulage firm fined £150k after driver electrocuted

A haulage firm has been fined £150,000 after a tipper truck driver was killed when his vehicle hit overhead power cables.

The fatal incident happened at the premises of Andrew Black at Drem Airfield, in East Lothian, on December 31, 2021.

Driver Grant Borton was finishing for the day and was using the wash bay to clean his truck in preparation for his next shift.

After leaving the wash bay, he raised the tipper, which made contact with the overhead powerlines. Borton was electrocuted and died.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation revealed that a failure to ensure that suitable control measures were in place resulted in Borton being electrocuted.

The company had not undertaken a risk assessment in respect of the hazard of overhead powerlines on site.

There were no suitable means to warn drivers exiting the wash bay of overhead powerlines.

There was a faded, illegible sign and a single A4-sized laminated sheet – which did not meet with the regulatory requirements for warning signs – pointed in the opposite direction from the wash bay; it would not have been visible to a driver exiting the bay.

One of the HSE specialist reports produced for the incident suggested that to manage the risk, the company should have contacted ScottishPower to have the lines buried or put in place signage and road markings to form an exclusion zone.

Since the incident, the company has buried all overhead powerlines on the site.

Andrew Black pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that there were suitable controls in place for work carried out near dangerous overhead powerlines between November 15, 2021, and January 5, 2022.

Debbie Carroll, who leads on health and safety investigations for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), told the East Lothian Courier: “Grant Borton lost his life in circumstances which could have been avoided had the risks been recognised and simple controls put in place. 

“By failing to have suitable controls in place to prevent contact with overhead powerlines, Andrew Black put their employees in danger of electrocution.

“This prosecution should remind employers that failing to take reasonable health and safety measures can have fatal consequences and they will be held accountable for this failure.”