Co Durham haulier fined £4,000

A Co Durham haulier was fined £4,000 last week after the first major accident in its yard in nearly 70 years. The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted WE & I Wright, of Tow Law, Co Durham, after a driver was crushed between two trucks as they reversed past each other. The accident happened last year and the driver is still off work.

Durham magistrates fined the company £4,000 with £2,500 costs after it admitted breaching the Health & Safety at Work Act. HSE inspector Richard Bishop told the court that although the company had a workplace risk assessment by the Road Haulage Association less than a year before the accident, it had not followed all the recommendations.

After the case Bishop said: "Vehicles are a part of everyday life, and as a result their dangers are often overlooked - complacency can be a real problem. But workplace transport continues to be the second biggest cause of fatal accidents at work. In 2004/05 there were 70 deaths and over 2,000 major injuries involving vehicles at work. Reversing alone caused about a quarter of the fatal accidents."

Company owner Raymond Wright said this was first serious accident since the firm was founded in 1938. It has been a limited company since 1957 and operates 16 vehicles. Bishop said other hauliers could learn from the accident: "An employer's first consideration should always be to try and eliminate reversing at their premises. But where reversing cannot be avoided there is clear guidance that spells out how to plan for safety."

For more information see www.hse.gov.uk/workplacetransport/index.htm.