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UK – Glass recycling firm fined after agency worker crushed to death on his first day

18 December 2014

A glass recycling company has been fined £180,000 after an agency forklift truck driver was crushed to death on his first day at work, reports the Liverpool Echo

Ian Aliski, aged 25, died when his forklift truck overturned at the site in Ellesmere Port, near Liverpool, on 26 April 2010. Liverpool Crown Court heard how there was no company policy in place to ensure seatbelts were worn, and that Mr Aliski would likely have survived had he been wearing one.

The company was ordered to pay the fine and more than £38,000 in costs after admitting a safety law breach.

Judge Thomas Teague, QC, stated that the exact circumstances of the accident would never be known, but that Mr Aliski was either thrown from the truck or attempted to jump as it toppled.

He said there were “systematic failings” in safety, including poor concrete surfaces where the trucks were driven and the narrow spaces in which they had to operate, but that there was no evidence of cost-cutting to improve profits.

He said: “He died from crush injuries as a result of being propelled from his seat as it overturned. It is extremely unlikely he would have been able to fall or jump if he had been restrained by a simple lap belt.”

Mr Aliski had been hired on a four-day contract and was just a few hours into his first day when the incident occurred.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigators found that forklift truck drivers regularly had to work in an area that was often covered in waste materials. This prevented them from turning the vehicles safely.

Mr Aliski was moving waste material from the recycling process – known as aggregate – from the production area to a storage shed when the forklift truck became unstable on the uneven surface and overturned.

HSE Inspector Martin Paren said: “Our investigation revealed a series of failures at the plant, with forklift trucks being used in an area that was completely unsuitable because of the uneven surface created by waste material scattered around the floor. There was also no policy in place for the use of seatbelts. Sadly, it was entirely foreseeable that someone was at risk of being badly injured or killed.”