Industry news
Firm fined for excavator accident
Posted Fri, 29 Jun 2012
A haulage firm has admitted health and safety breaches in sending three workers to recover an abandoned excavator which led to one suffering a fractured skull.
The Suffolk firm Tannington Transport had employed Paul Collins, an experienced fitter, for just three months when he received a blow to the head in the course of trying to recover the 17-tonne vehicle.
The incident happened in September last year when a heavy-duty vehicle jack 'popped' out of position and injured the 51-year-old from Walsham-le-Willows, Bury St Edmonds.
Ipswich Magistrates' Court heard that an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) concluded the company had failed to anticipate the potential risks of retrieving the vehicle that had been lying in a hedgerow in Chelmondiston for years.
Tannington Transport, which operates across East Anglia, pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
The company, registered to Rendham Road, Saxmundham, was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £3,291 in costs.
Copyright Press Association 2012