Construction company fined after dumper truck trapped an employee

A construction company was fined after a driver was trapped when a dumper truck overturned at a site in Cornwall.

Plymouth Magistrates' Court heard how in April 2019 an employee became trapped when the truck overturned on the construction site.

The employee was not wearing a lap belt and was operating the dumper truck without deploying the roll-over protective structure, and suffered multiple crush injuries to his body.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company, Jim Elliot & Son, had failed to:

• assess the competence and the skills of the operator ahead of work on the refurbishment project;
• induct the employee on starting work at the site, therefore failing to identify that the employee had the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to operate the dumper; and
• failed to undertake a risk assessment or prepare a construction phase plan.

These measures, along with a suitable site induction would have identified that the employee did not have the required competence, training, skills and knowledge to ensure that the work was carried out safely and the dumper operated in accordance with it operator's manual.

The owner was found guilty of breaching the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations SI 2015/51, the company was fined £850 and ordered to pay £2,000 in costs.

HSE inspector Georgina Symons said: "This incident could have easily been prevented if the company had assessed the risk related to operating site dumpers and ensured that its workers had the skills and competence necessary to do so safely".