Recresco fined £180,000 over forklift death
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ShareGlass recycling company Recresco has been fined £180,000 for safety failings after a worker was killed when the forklift truck he was driving overturned.
The sentence was passed down to Recresco yesterday (17 December) after Liverpool Crown Court heard how, on 26 April 2010, Ian Aliski was using the forklift at Recresco Ltd’s glass recycling plant in Manisty Wharf in Ellesmere Port when the vehicle overturned, crushing him to death.
Aliski had been hired on a temporary four-day contract and was just a few hours into his first day of work when the incident happened.
Incident details
According to investigating officers from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), forklift truck drivers regularly had to work in an area that was often covered in waste materials.
Indeed, they stated that the forklift trucks in use at the plant were not suitable for operation on uneven surfaces or over loose material such as that found on the site, as they made safe turning of vehicles difficult.
On the day of the incident, Aliski was moving aggregate material from the production area to a storage shed when the forklift truck became unstable on the uneven surface and overturned. He was not wearing a seatbelt at the time, and HSE found that there was no company policy in place to ensure seatbelts were worn.
It was argued that the company was at fault as it should have ensured staff wore seat belts when operating vehicles, and provided adequate vehicles, such as four-wheel-drive, all terrain shovel loaders, on uneven terrain (as were already in use elsewhere on the site).
As such, Recresco Ltd was fined £180,000 and ordered to pay £38,693 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 on 17 December 2014.
‘Tragic death could have been avoided’
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Martin Paren said: “Ian was just a few hours into his first day at work for Recresco Ltd when this tragic incident occurred.
“Our investigation revealed a series of failures at the plant, with forklift trucks being used in an area that was completely unsuitable because of the uneven surface created by waste material scattered around the floor. There was also no policy in place for the use of seatbelts.
“Sadly it was entirely foreseeable that someone was at risk of being badly injured or killed. If the company had taken some simple measures to reduce the risks, such as using the all-terrain vehicles in use elsewhere on the site, then Ian’s tragic death could have been avoided.”
Since the incident, the company now uses all-terrain vehicles to move all the waste material on the site and has made it company policy for seatbelts to be worn at all times in all vehicles.
Waste sector ‘one of the most dangerous’
Injuries and deaths in the waste sector are not uncommon, and the HSE has branded the industry as ‘one of the most dangerous’ sectors to work in after finding that 10 workers and three members of the public suffered fatal injuries in the waste and recycling sector in 2012/13, compared with an average of six deaths in the past five years.
To reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured in the waste and recycling industry, HSE has published the ‘Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) blueprint 2012-15’, which outlines 24 ‘immediate action points’ that companies dealing with waste and recycling need to take to provide clearer training and safer workplaces.
Find out more about the WISH blueprint.
