Northampton Crown Court fined a contractor £566,670 after a tipper truck driven by an employee struck overhead power lines.
The contractor, Mick George, runs a company that supplies earth moving, demolition, skip hire and waste management services to the construction industry. His employee was working on a construction site emptying a load of soil from a tipper truck when they drove forward and the raised dump bed touched the 33kV overhead power lines. Thankfully the driver was unhurt following the incident and the vehicle itself sustained minor damage.
During the hearing, the Court heard that Mick George, the contractor, had identified that there was a risk present from work near overhead cables and knew that warning goalposts to provide a visible warning to workers were required. However, due to delays in the work commencing only one such marker had been installed.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) argued that a more rigorous risk assessment should have been undertaken and the system of work in place for the task was inadequate.
An HSE Inspector commented: ''Every year in the UK, two people are killed and many more are injured when mechanical plant and machinery comes into contact or close proximity to overhead power lines. This was a very serious incident and it is fortunate nobody was injured as a result. A suitable and sufficient assessment would have identified the need to contact the distribution network operator, Western Power, to request the overhead power lines were diverted underground prior to the commencement of construction. If this was not reasonably practicable, Mick George should have erected goalposts either side of the overhead power lines to warn drivers."
Mick George pleaded guilty to breaches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations SI 2015/51 that require the provision of suitable warning notices where there is a risk to construction work from overhead electric power cables.
