A haulage company in Wales has been fined £100,000 after a lorry driver fell from a loading bay and died.
The 63-year-old was preparing his trailer ahead of departure from Williams Haulage’s site at Deeside Industrial Estate in March 2020.
The Hungarian driver, who was not employed by Williams, was trying to reach the top of his lorry, with one foot on the loading bay and the other on the back of another lorry. However, he fell around 1.25m onto the concrete floor below when the adjacent lorry was driven away. He sustained severe head injuries and died at the Royal Stoke University Hospital on 16 May 2020.
An investigation into his death found that the haulage firm had carried out a risk assessment that identified the risk from falls and introduced control measures, but these had not been used in practice.
There was a lack of supervision and monitoring by Williams Haulage to check that these control measures were being used by its staff. Additionally, insufficient consideration had been given to visiting drivers, particularly when English is not their first language.
Williams Haulage pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £8,400.50 in costs at Llandudno Magistrates’ Court.
HSE inspector Matthew Pendle said: “Any fall can have devastating consequences – as in this case of a man working far from home. Haulage by nature means drivers who do not always speak English can visit sites – they must be protected.
