A construction firm has been ordered to pay almost £110,000 in fines and costs after an unqualified employee was crushed to death while driving a mini-digger at a housing development site in Gloucester.

The HSE prosecuted Bridgend-based Macob Administration after 23-year-old Lance Taylor suffered fatal injuries in February 2005 when he accidently nudged a lever as he leaned out of the digger cab. The lever operated the vehicle’s digging arm, which then raised and swung backwards, crushing his head between the cab and the arm.
 

“Mr Taylor and other site workers were not all properly trained to use the equipment they were handling and, just as seriously, vehicle keys were routinely left in the machines,” said HSE inspector Martin Lee. “As a result, the vehicles were accessible to anyone on site, regardless of their qualifications.”
 

Macob admitted charges under Regulations 9(1) and 28(a) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations in that it had not provided Taylor and others with proper training and had failed to stop unauthorised workers from starting up machinery, including dumper trucks and tracked hydraulic excavators. On 15 January at Gloucester Crown Court, Judge William Hart fined the firm £40,000 for each charge plus costs of £29,798.
 

After the case, Lee reminded construction site managers that they need to know exactly which workers on sire are qualified to operate machinery, and must control access to vehicles.