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Rough
Terrain News
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Village in shock after worker's death February 7, 2003
A VILLAGE is trying to come to terms today with the death of one of its
residents in an accident at work. British Sugar factory dispatch worker
Lorraine Waspe died after she was involved in a collision with a
mechanical loading shovel in a warehouse at the company's factory in
Bury St Edmunds on Wednesday. Mrs Waspe, 40, who lived in Valley Lane,
Great Finborough, was an only child and came from a farming family
well-known in the area. She married her sweetheart Colin last year at a
wedding ceremony in Gretna Green. The Rev Nigel Hartley, parish priest
for Great Finborough, said: “What has happened is a tragedy for the
family and the community. The Waspe family are extremely well-known in
the area. “Lorraine was a very bubbly, sparky character, very well-liked
and was getting into village affairs. I was involved in the funeral of
her mother, Joyce, during 2001 and her father John still lives in the
village. “For Lorraine to die in such a tragic way at such a young age,
particularly given she had only recently arried Colin, is a tragedy.”
Sue Marks, who runs the village post office and stores with her husband
Paul, recalled a woman who was full of fun. “She was a customer at the
shop, she was a lovely woman, always full of fun, lively, someone who
enjoyed life,” she said. “She was a super, super girl. What can you say?
She has lived in the village for years, everybody knew them. This is
such a terrible shame. “The family are all absolutely devastated, in a
state of shock. To think you could go to work as normal and not come
back. I can't imagine what they feel like, it's terrible.” Lesley Cass,
one of Mrs Waspe's neighbors, added: “She was a bubbly, friendly person,
passionate about cats, loved the birds and was keen to encourage
wildlife. “She was enthusiastic about the environment and environmental
issues. She and her husband were creating their own garden to her design
and she was involved in village activities such as the gardening club.
“I am absolutely stunned by her death. The couple were only married last
year in Gretna Green after being together for a long while. Her husband
will be absolutely devastated.” A spokeswoman for the Transport and
General Workers' Union, which has members at the factory, said it deeply
saddened to hear of Mrs Waspe's death and sent their condolences to her
family, friends and colleagues. Mrs Waspe worked for British Sugar as a
seasonal worker and her colleagues are being offered counseling. Suffolk
police are not treating her death as suspicious, but the Health and
Safety executive has launched an investigation. A spokeswoman for the
Health and Safety Executive said yesterday: “Investigations started
straight away and inspectors are at the company today. “Generally we try
to ascertain what happened and why, take statements from people, look in
to the training histories. “We are looking to see if there have been any
breaches of health and safety legislation to keep people safe in the
workplace.” John Smith, a spokesman for British Sugar, said it was
working closely with the Health and Safety Executive to discover exactly
what happened. An inquest into Mrs Waspe's death will be held at a later
date.
No Responsibility accepted for the accuracy of this article
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Agriculture - From experience
 Safety
through training and maintenance
Summary
A 44 years old lorry driver had to have both legs amputated
following an accident at a farm he visited to collect a load of
field beans. An employee at the farm had loaded some beans into
the bucket of a telescopic handler to transport them to the
waiting lorry. The bucket was overloaded and as it was
raised the telehandler fell forward, trapping the lorry driver
underneath the bucket. He was rescued and taken to hospital by
air ambulance, but had to have both legs amputated - one above
the knee and the other below.
Summary
A 44 years old lorry driver had to have both legs amputated
following an accident at a farm he visited to collect a load of
field beans. An employee at the farm had loaded some beans into
the bucket of a telescopic handler to transport them to the
waiting lorry. The bucket was overloaded and as it was
raised the telehandler fell forward, trapping the lorry driver
underneath the bucket. He was rescued and taken to hospital by
air ambulance, but had to have both legs amputated - one above
the knee and the other below.
Action
The investigation found that:
• the telehandler's Safe Working Load Indicator (SWLI) which
would have warned the driver that it was trying to move too
heavy a load was defective;
• the load chart in the cab was worn and extension markers on
the boom of the telehandler were missing;
• the farm employee had not been trained in the safe use of the
telehandler and had not seen or been shown the user manual or
any written instructions.
The farm owner was prosecuted under the Health and Safety at
Work etc. Act 1974 for failing to ensure the health and
safety of both the lorry driver any his own employees, and the
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992 for the
lack of adequate training. He was fined a total of £20,000 plus
costs of £1891.
Advice
This tragedy shows the importance of preventive maintenance
in avoiding injuries. A proper maintenance system would have
identified the defective SWLI and obscured safety information.
As well as making the machine safe, driver training is a
critical component of a safe system. With the right information
and training, the driver would have known the capacity of his
machine and that the safety device didn't work. Two simple
mistakes that cost a man his legs - could it happen to you?
http://www.hse.gov.uk/agriculture/experience/02.htm
No Responsibility accepted for the accuracy of this article
Updated 13.01.04
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CASE 2 - £350,000 FINE FOR TRUCK FATALITY
 A
housing development company was fined £350,000 after Winchester Crown
Court heard that an untrained fork lift truck operator was crushed to
death after his machine overturned on a construction site. The 19 year
old driver was transporting materials around a construction site in
Fleet, Hampshire when the accident happened on March 29th 2000.
The deceased was using a
counterbalanced truck fitted with a telescopic boom to move 17 large
wooden roof trusses when the truck was driven over an area of rough soil
it overturned landing partially on it's side. The trusses fell onto the
ground and initially prevented the machine from turning over completely.
The operator then tried to climb out of the truck but when he managed to
get his head out the trusses collapsed and the truck fell completely
onto it's side crushing the operator who died instantly.
The court heard that he had not
received adequate training on the safe use of lift trucks although he
had been working at the site for 3 months. It transpired that he had
received only half a days training on counterbalanced machines which was
deemed to be totally inadequate. An independent health and safety
consultant had visited the site just 3 weeks before the accident and
warned that the deceased should not be allowed to operate
counterbalanced trucks. The court heard that a second operator had also
been operating trucks at another site in Verwood, Dorset despite a lack
of adequate training.
The company was fined £350,000 for 2
offences under section 2 of the Health and safety at Work Act along with
the full prosecution costs of £14,754.85
Source: Safety
Management Magazine, published by the British Safety Council
No Responsibility accepted for the accuracy of this article |
| FARM OWNERS CONVICTED OF
MANSLAUGHTER
Two farm owners have been convicted
of Manslaughter after Birmingham Crown Court heard that they failed to
prevent a 16 year old operator of a telescopic materials handler using
the machine without adequate training. A fatal accident occurred when
the youth was undertaking work experience at a farm in Hadnall,
Shropshire on 9th November 1999.
The court heard that the deceased was
using the machine to clear mud which had fallen on to the main single
lane A49 road outside the farm. He parked the machine with it's raised
boom overhanging part of the roadway and then stood next to the vehicle
when a passing lorry struck the boom overturning the truck onto the
young lad who suffered severe crushing injuries and died later that
evening in hospital.
The court heard that before the
deceased began work at the farm a work experience placement officer and
an Inspector from the Health and Safety Executive had visited the site
on two separate occasions and warned the farm owners that he should not
be allowed to operate the machine until he had undergone suitable
training. A subsequent investigation by West Mercia Constabulary
revealed that it had become common practice for the young man to operate
the machine both on the farm and the public highway.
The jury convicted the farm owners of
manslaughter and one was jailed for 15 months whilst the other was given
a 12 month jail sentence suspended for one year. Both defendants were
also ordered to pay the prosecution costs of £10,000 each and both are
seeking leave to appeal against the level of sentence.
As a result of the appeal the jailed
farmer has had his sentence suspended for one year. The judges heard how
the business was deteriorating due to the imprisonment and the
deceased's parents also wrote to the court explaining that the farmer
had learned a lesson from the tragedy. Mr. Justice Pitchford stated that
the original sentencing judge had "made no mistake" but that
there were "exceptional circumstances" to suspend the
sentence.
Source: Safety
Management Magazine, published by the British Safety Council
No Responsibility accepted for the accuracy of this
article |
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Laing
Homes was fined a total of £40,000
after St Albans Crown Court heard that a 53 year old plumber suffered
serious injuries when he was struck by a telescopic materials handler.
No Responsibility accepted for the accuracy of this article |
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Fortunately
no-one was injured on this occasion when a Health and Safety Inspector
visited a site where a new agricultural building was being erected and
saw a man being elevated to a height of over eight metres on the forks
of a Telescopic Materials handler. The incident happened at Linstock
Castle in Carlisle, Cumbria and the visit followed a telephone call from
a concerned member of the public.
It was also
discovered that another employee gained access to the roof by crossing
over a nearby roof which was made from fragile corrugated cement sheets!
In addition there were no guards present to prevent workers from falling
off the roof. The HSE Inspector said in Carlisle Magistrates Court that
in a bid to cut costs the firm had not used safety equipment such as
scaffolding on the site.
The company denied
that it had put profit before safety and had warned the site foreman
concerned that it was unsafe to raise and lower people on the forks of a
vehicle.
The company was
fined £3000 under section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act
together with a further £1000 for a breach of Construction and Loler
Regulations and ordered to pay the full prosecution costs of £1000
It
is our intention to update these pages as and when we get news of severe
injury or fatality involving fork lift trucks in the UK. We have
deliberately left out names of individuals and companies concerned to
avoid unnecessary distress.
Acknowledgements
for these pictures to Safety Management Magazine, published by the
British Safety Council
No Responsibility accepted for the accuracy of this article |
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Details for Case
No. F130000291
DefendantRichard
John Clarke
SummaryHSWA S3(2). Clarke Farms, owners of a Matbro TS260
telescopic materials handler failed to adequately maintain the brakes on
the machine. A neighbour borrowed the machine and was involved in a
fatal accident because he could not stop it as he descended a 10% hill.
The day after the accident the machine was driven back to the farm and
used to feed cattle without any safety checks or repairs being carried
out. Partners did not take reasonably practicable measures to ensure
their own safety or that of other people that may have been affected by
their use of the machine in their undertaking. This case did result from
the investigation of a fatality
Offence Date26/07/00
Total Fine£4,000.00
Total Costs Awarded to HSE£900.00
Location of Offence
Address Grove Farm Lowdham NOTTINGHAM NG14 7AY England
Region EAST MIDLANDS
Local AuthorityNewark & Sherwood
IndustryAgriculture,Hunting, Forestry and Fishing
©
Copyright Health & Safety Executive 2000. All information is
provisional and may be subject to revision.
http://www.hse-databases.co.uk/prosecutions/case
No Responsibility accepted for the accuracy of this article |
Indonesian
driver crushed by heavy machinery
In KUANTAN, an Indonesian driver was believed killed after the forklift
driven by him, to lift timber, overturned and crushed him in a
rubberwood factory in Kuala Kenong, near Lipis, yesterday. Pahang CID
Deputy Chief Supt Mokhtar Mohd Ali said the victim, only known as
Landriadi, was pronounced dead on arrival at the Lipis Hospital. In the
9 am incident, the victim was believed to have driven the forklift along
the hilly area and lost control. "The machine overturned and fell to the
foot of the hill," he told reporters here Monday. Mokhtar said several
workers managed to pull the victim, who suffered severe bodily injuries,
out from the mangled wreck. Police have classified the case as sudden
death and ruled out foul play.
No Responsibility accepted for the accuracy of this article |
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