Refuse firm fined over worker deathA refuse company has been fined after one of its employees was fatally injured when a 1,100 litre recycling bin fell on his head.
London-based Veolia ES (UK) Limited was ordered to pay a £130,000 fine and £220,000 in costs at Aylesbury Crown Court after being found guilty of breaching health and safety regulations.
Refuse collector David Ives, 56, from High Wycombe, died six years ago after the recycling bin fell from its hoist on a lorry and hit him on the head outside a pub in Easington, near Aylesbury, the court heard.
In the same trial, Brian Currie Milton Keynes Ltd was found not guilty of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Health and safety inspector Dennis MacWilliam said: "Employers are legally required to make sure their equipment is regularly maintained and is fit for use by their workers. If the bin hoist on the recycling lorry had been maintained this incident would never have happened."
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