North Tyneside Council bound over for sentencing after man killed by refuse truck » Local government » 24dash.com

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning the waste industry to ensure that adequate precautions are taken to prevent injuries caused by reversing waste and recycling collection vehicles.

The warning follows HSE's prosecution of North Tyneside Council after a man was killed by a refuse truck.

The council was today bound over for sentencing at Crown Court at a later date after pleading guilty to a breach of Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at North Tyneside Magistrates' Court.

On May 2, 2006, a member of the public, Brian Kindred, was killed after a refuse truck hit him near his home in Allanville, Camperdown, as it was reversing.

HSE Inspector Stephen Britton said: "This is a tragic case where we found that the council's safety management procedures were not adequate.

"There was no supervision in place, training was cursory and did not cover guiding vehicles in any way.

"Had the council followed the simple and straight forward control measures that have been specifically designed for the waste and recycling industry such as, training their operators to warn the driver about pedestrians walking close to the vehicle, Mr Kindred would not have died."

Meanwhile, North Tyneside Council has also pleaded guilty today to five breaches of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002.

It was fined  £17,005 and ordered to pay £3,911 costs at North Tyneside Magistrates' Court.

HSE Inspector Stephen Britton said: "North Tyneside  Council was found to have breached the regulations in March 2006, at Wallsend Jubilee Primary School in Mullen Road, which is owned by the council.

"The school caretaker swept the school boiler house on two separate occasions, unaware that it was contaminated with asbestos. This posed a huge risk to the caretaker's health: every year, 4000 people die of work-related asbestos diseases, more than are killed on the roads.

"The boiler house had been quarantined due to the presence of asbestos, and although the previous caretaker and headteacher were aware of the contamination, the replacement staff were not informed. There were no signs indicating that the area had been quarantined and the caretaker only became aware of the risk of exposure after an asbestos removal company visited the school to undertake work.

"This type of incident was likely to occur sooner or later. It was foreseeable that caretakers and service engineers would require access to the boiler house for routine or emergency repairs, but no instruction, training, protective equipment, washing or disposal arrangements were in place to safeguard this vulnerable group.

"The regulations require those with responsibilities for the repair and maintenance of non-domestic premises to find out if there are, or may be, asbestos-containing materials within them. It also requires them to record the location and condition of such materials, and then assess and manage any risk from them, including passing on information about their location and condition to anyone liable to disturb them.

"Local authorities and employers in general have a duty to ensure that any asbestos present in premises is managed properly, and need to warn anybody likely to come into contact with it of the danger it poses to their health."