HSE Prosecutes Over Incident
A leading personal injury lawyer from Irwin Mitchell has welcomed the Health and Safety Executive’s decision to prosecute over a work accident which led to the death of a litter-picker.
Damian Griffiths, 20, was killed while working for Veolia ES with a colleague who was driving a caged vehicle on a grass verge of the A228. A lorry collided with the vehicle, shunting it into the victim who died at the scene.
Veolia ES was found guilty of health and safety breaches and fined £225,000 over the incident.
Commenting on the case, David Urpeth said: “This case shares similarities with many that I have been involved in, particularly as the incident was caused by the company’s failure to properly plan and manage its work.
“It is vital that lessons are learnt from this work accident and no one else suffers in this manner ever again.
“I hope this legal action highlights the importance of health and safety, while also encouraging firms to take another look at the processes they have in place.”