Kettering firm fined after man crushed to death by lorry

Published: HSE, December 2009

A commercial vehicle repair centre in Kettering has been fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £25,000 costs after an employee was crushed to death underneath a 24-tonne lorry.

The company pleaded guilty at Northampton Crown Court to health and safety breaches which led to the death of an employee.  The man, 47, was working underneath a 24-tonne road drain cleaning vehicle when the equipment supporting it collapsed. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) successfully prosecuted the company of Kettering.

The employer breached section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for failing to train employees in a safe system of work for raising and working beneath vehicles.

The court was told that there were no health and safety systems in place to ensure that employees followed safe practices.

In June 2007 the employee was carrying out repairs to a four-axle, eight-wheel lorry. He used four hydraulic lifts to raise the vehicle up to around six feet but instead of putting them on the front and fourth axles as is common practice, he put them on the front and third axle. After raising the lorry, it is thought that he wanted to rotate the wheels on the third axle so he placed a single tall axle stand under the middle fourth axle.

He then lowered the lifts so that the wheels on the third axle were able to rotate. It appears that as he went to adjust the brakes of the third axle, the vehicle wobbled and the axle stand collapsed. As it fell, the rear of the vehicle bounced into the hydraulic lifts, knocking them away from the wheels, allowing the lorry to fall on to him.

The court heard that there were two axle stands available, but he had only used one. Each stand had a safe working load of 7.5 tonnes which, if used together, would have been adequate to support the rear of the vehicle, but the single stand used would have been massively overloaded.

HSE inspector Neil Craig said:

"This is an unfortunate and tragic incident. The man was an experienced mechanic who had used this equipment on numerous occasions. We will never know why, on that day, he chose to support the rear of this vehicle on a single axle stand.

"However, as this incident has shown, raising and working beneath these heavy vehicles can be very dangerous and the company should have completed a proper risk assessment and trained their employees in a safe system of work. Had they done so, the mechanic might have been more diligent in the way he went about raising and supporting this vehicle and this incident is far less likely to have occurred.

"I would urge all employers who use these lifts and supports on large vehicles to ensure their employees understand the risks involved and the measures to protect against them."

Notes to editors

1. Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.
2. Please visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/mvr/index.htm[1] for more information about the Motor Vehicle Repair industry specifically.
3. There have been over 8,000 injuries and 24 deaths in the motor vehicle repair (MVR) industry over the last five years.

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