A company in Hertfordshire has been fined after an employee was crushed to death.
The employee lost his life after being struck and run over by an excavator at Sarazen Gardens, Brampton on 18 November 2019.
The 22-year-old site engineer had been attaching a "warning" work signs to fencing around the site when he was hit by the vehicle.
The engineer had only joined his employer, Materials Movement Limited, months before, after graduating from the University of Birmingham with a degree in geology in the summer of 2019. The firm had been hired to undertake ground clearance works at Sarazens Gardens in preparation for the building of new houses.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found Materials Movement Limited had failed to plan and manage the work at Sarazen Gardens. The company failed to properly supervise the work that the employee and the excavator driver were undertaking to ensure it was safe. The firm also failed to ensure the work was planned and managed to eliminate any chance of the employee working near the excavator.
HSE guidance states employers must consider five main precautions needed to control excavator hazards. These are:
Materials Movement Limited pleaded guilty to breaching the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations SI 2015/51, and were fined £133,330, and ordered to pay £8,500 in costs.
HSE inspector Martin Paren said: "This tragic incident led to the avoidable death of a young man. This death could have easily been prevented if his employer had properly planned, instructed, and supervised the work".
