Refuse firm fined over worker death
16/02/2010
A refuse company has been fined £130,000 after one of its employees was killed was crushed to death by a recycling bin.
Veolia ES (UK) Lyd, of Veolia House, Pentonville, London, was found guilty of breaching health and safety laws by a jury at Aylesbury Crown Court.
The court heard David Ives, 56, from High Wycombe, was collecting rubbish outside a pub in Easington, near Aylesbury, when the 1,100-litre bin fell on top of him in May 2004.
Veolia ES (UK) Ltd was fined and ordered to pay costs of £220,000.
It comes after the firm was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive over the incident.
In the same trial, Brian Currie Milton Keynes Ltd of Norfolk House Centre, Milton Keynes, was found not guilty of breaching health and safety legislation.
Dennis MacWilliam, HSE inspector, said: "Employers are legally required to make sure their equipment is regularly maintained and is fit for use by their workers. If the bin hoist on the recycling lorry had been maintained this incident would never have happened."
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