Industry news
Firm fined over vehicle plunge
Posted Thu, 29 Jul
A quarry operator has been fined £30,000 over an incident involving an overturned wheel loader vehicle.
A worker was being trained to use the 30-tonne vehicle at North Cave Quarry - Humberside Aggregates and Excavations Ltd's sand and gravel extraction and processing facility - when it overturned and slid almost 16ft down a sand stockpile.
The employee was using the vehicle to move sand when the access ramp edge he was driving on gave way on 30 October 2009, Beverley Magistrates' Court heard. As the ramp had no edge protection barriers in place, the vehicle overturned and plunged down the stockpile.
The trainee suffered concussion and had to spend two days in hospital following the accident. Humberside Aggregates and Excavations Ltd, of Newport Road, North Cave, East Yorkshire, was also ordered to pay £10,590 in costs after pleading guilty to three separate breaches of Quarries Regulations 1999 in the prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The firm was prosecuted for failing to assess, identify and minimise potential risk and also for not protecting the worker.
Richard Noble, HSE Inspector, said: "Quarrying remains one of the most dangerous industries to work in. Since 2000 more than 3,000 workers have suffered an injury reportable to HSE and 24 people have been killed."
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