A multi-million pound penalty has been placed on the logistics company, DHL, following the death of an employee at their Coventry tyre distribution centre.
Robert Baynham was crushed under a stack of tyre stillages, when they toppled and fell through an internal office roof, where he and three other colleagues were busy working. After an investigation was undertaken by Coventry City Council, it was revealed that the tyre warehouse was principally used for the bulk storage and distribution of Bridgestone tyres. It also handled "cross-stocked" tyres, which were stored temporarily, and ranged in size from small car tyres, all the way up to extra-large agricultural types.
Warwick Crown Court was told that, in the early hours of 2 February 2016, a tall stack of eight cross-stocked stillages had been placed next to the office in which the employees were working. The stack toppled, possibly after being knocked as a second stack was being placed next to it, and as a result the top two stillages, each weighing near to 578 kilos, fell through the office roof. According to the Coventry Observer, prosecutors said there was no guidance that different stillages should not be mixed - but Bridgestone had indicated for its tyres that if they were, then the heaviest should be at the bottom.
Investigators had found that DHL has failed to complete a comprehensive health and safety audit after taking over the site from another company in September 2015 - they told the court that tyres were in fact stacked too high, and too close to an internal office, the inherently dangerous practice which had become too common an occurrence, and was not actually a practice that staff had ever been told not to do. The court had previously heard of similar incidents, so DHL was well aware of the risk. As a result, the company was fined £2.6 million for what was described as a "serious corporate failure".
Mr Justice Jeremy Baker has said, "Although there may have been individualised failure to make a proper risk assessment, there was corporate failure to do so. The cause and effect of those failures is a stack containing an excessive number of stillages had been placed in an area where people were working. There is no question that these failures have led to a human tragedy."
On comment after the sentencing, Councillor Abdul Khan, the cabinet member for policing and equalities, has said, "DHL received a significant fine and probably the largest following a health and safety prosecution by the council. Most importantly lessons have been learned by DHL and safety management at the warehouse has improved."
