Industry news
Firms fined over HGV driver death
Posted Tue, 06 Jul 2010
Two companies have been found guilty of breaching safety regulations over the death of a man who was crushed by a rolling lorry at work.
Gary Brooks, an HGV driver for Exel Europe, was trying to collect a loaded trailer from the Imperial Tobacco site in Nottingham when the incident occurred in September 2007.
The 42-year-old from Cotgrave was trying to attach the trailer to his cab when the lorry rolled forward.
He was trapped between the front of the lorry and a wall and died after suffering head injuries.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that drivers working for both Milton Keynes-based Excel, and Bristol-based Imperial Tobacco, did not routinely apply trailer brakes to ensure they were parked safely.
Some drivers had not been properly trained or assessed and no checks had been carried out to monitor the use of trailer brakes in the yard, he said. Both companies had identified the risk to workers but failed to implement appropriate control measures, an HSE spokesman added.
At Nottingham Crown Court, the companies were fined a total of £160,000 over the safety breaches.
Copyright © Press Association 2010
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