Veolia fined £1m following death of worker

Refuse collection company, Veolia ES (UK), has been fined £1 million after a worker was run over and killed.

Canterbury Crown Court heard how, on October 18 2013, Veolia’s employee John Head suffered fatal injuries when he was run over by a reversing refuse collection vehicle while he was walking across the yard at the Ross Depot Waste Transfer Station in Folkestone. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident found that multiple vehicles, including refuse trucks and articulated lorries, were manoeuvring around the yard with no specific controls.

Veolia failed to adequately assess the risks involved in the yard and did not implement industry recognised control measures to protect employees, the court found.

Veolia ES (UK) of Pentonville Road, London, hawas found guilty after a trial of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company was fined £1 million and ordered to pay costs of £130,000.

HSE inspector Kevin Golding said: “This should be a reminder to all industries, but in particular, the waste industry, to appropriately assess the risks and implement widely recognised control measures to adequately control manoeuvring vehicles, in particular reversing vehicles and restrict pedestrian movements around vehicles."

The HSE is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise.