Company fined for safety lapseA company has been fined £1,600 after a man suffered serious burns when he was hit by an electrical charge while dumping rubbish in Staffordshire.
Andrew Perry, was disposing of waste at Booths Farm, Cheadle, on September 3, when the mechanical arm of his truck made contact with a set of 33,000 volt power cables.
The charge surged down the structure, through the truck and into Mr Perry's body. He sustained serious burns to his arms and feet.
The owner of the site, John Rowland Fallows, admitted a charge of breaching Regulation 14 of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 at Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates' Court. He was fined £1,600 and ordered to pay £2,214 in costs.
HSE inspector Lynne Boulton said: "In this case, there were no barriers or warnings to prevent drivers visiting this site from tipping waste materials under the power lines and it was only a matter of time before an incident like this took place. It wouldn't have taken much effort to install barriers, as proven by the fact that Mr Fallows quickly erected barriers and warning signs to avoid a repeat of this incident shortly after it occurred."
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