A metal recycling company in Yorkshire has been fined £1.2m after a worker was injured after being struck by a wagon at a processing site.
On 10 August 2020, a man was walking across the CF Booth Limited site yard in Rotherham when he was struck by a moving 32-tonne skip wagon.
The man sustained a fractured skull and also fractured his collar bone in two places. He has since made a full recovery.
CF Booth Limited of Clarence Metal Works pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court on April 25. They were fined £1.2million and ordered to pay costs of £5,694.85.
The man was not wearing his hi-vis jacket and did not see the wagon approaching. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said the wagon driver did not see the man before the collision as they were concentrating on manoeuvring the vehicle around some low-level skips which had been placed on the corner near where the employee was crossing the yard.
An HSE investigation found that the site was not organised to allow pedestrians and vehicles could circulate safely.
The HSE said a “suitable and sufficient” workplace transport risk assessment was not in place for the segregation of vehicles and pedestrians.
The company had failed to take steps to properly assess the risks posed by the movement of vehicles and pedestrians, the HSE found.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Kirstie Durrans said: “If CF Booth Limited had assessed the risks and ensured vehicles and pedestrians could circulate in a safe manner, this incident could have easily been avoided.
“Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”
The HSE said the incident could have been prevented by assessing the risks and implementing “appropriate control measures” such as physical barriers and crossing points.
