Welsh firm fined after fatal crush

A recycling firm has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a worker was crushed to death by an industrial skip.

Officials at Amber Services Ltd were ordered to pay nearly £150,000 in fines and costs after Norman Mayne, 56, was killed having become trapped between a container and a skip at the firm’s recycling plant in Dyffryn Business Park, Ystrad Mynach, nearly four years ago.

Officials at Cardiff Crown Court heard how Mr Mayne, from Newport, had been checking a selection of skips when he was crushed against one of them by a container being manoeuvred onto a waiting lorry by a colleague. Commenting on the case, during which Amber Services Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 2974, HSE inspector Clare Owen said:

“The death of Mr Mayne could have been prevented if a few simple measures had been put in place.

“There was no effective system for managing vehicle and pedestrian movements on site, and skip storage was disorganised. If a clearly defined system to control vehicles was in place and the site was kept in an orderly condition, the likelihood of such an incident occurring would be dramatically reduced.”

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