Sita fined £211,000 after employee was hit by a telehandler

Recycling firm Sita UK Limited was fined £211,998 (inc.costs) after an employee was struck by a 7.5 tonne telehandler. 

The circumstances were:

• Sita UK Limited failed to provide adequate segregation between pedestrians and moving vehicles at a waste transfer station in Darwen, Lancashire.
• As an employee walked across an outside plastics hand sorting area, he passed behind a stationary telehandler. 
• The telehandler began to reverse and struck the worker who was knocked to the ground and then run over by the rear wheel of the vehicle. 
• His resulting injuries caused him to be hospitalised for two months.

The HSE inspector said: 

“Employers need to look carefully at their workplaces regularly to make sure that pedestrian routes are clearly marked and physically separated from vehicle routes wherever possible. The employee could have easily been killed and still has severe mobility problems as a result of the accident. He is unlikely to be able to work in the near future.”