Video footage lands skip firm owner in court
Video footage lands skip firm owner in court
The owner of a skip hire firm in Bacup has been fined after he was filmed putting an employee’s life in danger by lifting him in a digger bucket.
Christopher Jones was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a concerned member of the public videoed the incident at Shadlock Skips in May 2013.
Burnley Magistrates’ Court heard that Mr Jones, 44 from Rossendale, and an employee had been trying to remove a small piece of damaged plywood above the main shutter doors. No measures were put in place to prevent the worker falling around four metres from the bucket to the ground below.
The court was told much safer methods of carrying out the work were available on the site. These included attaching a man-riding cage to the front of the vehicle or simply using a ladder.
Mr Jones previously received a warning from HSE less than two months before the incident after the same employee was witnessed riding on top of a fully laden skip wagon as it reversed into the site.
Christopher Jones was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £1,039 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 on 16 May 2014.
The video footage is available to watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALfTWdMkxWU .
