Another Senseless Death - Avoidable?
Tom Morton
Supporting partners to build and deliver next generation ambient monitoring and alerting solutions.
A construction worker has died and the HSE investigation blamed systemic failure of health & safety policies. In this instance, a driver of an excavation machine was thrown from his cab when the machine toppled into a large excavation site. He was subsequently crushed as the 5 tonne digger landed upon him.
The HSE investigation found:
- Drivers routinely do not wear seatbelts. Evidenced by other staff admissions to HSE investigators;
- In any event, the seatbelt inside the cab of this digger was faulty; and
- The site had been exposed to this foreseeable risk for 3 weeks.
- Two companies were found liable and were fined £180k
- No current reports of any civil actions being taken by the family
So my questions to all of you responsible for lone workers....When was the last time you reviewed your lone worker policy? Is it still fit for purpose? Do your staff routinely (or systemically) fail to use their solution? What have you or your management team done about that?...... I guess you get the picture!