Mum of man crushed to death haunted by what she saw as firm fined …
The mum of a Sutton Coldfield man crushed to death says she is haunted by seeing him dying under a skip as the firm responsible was fined millions. Mark Wheatley died following an incident at the Dartmoor National Park Conservation Works depot in Bovey Tracey, Devon on January 17, 2020.
The 31-year-old from Sutton but living in Teignbridge, Devon, was an agency worker on his second week working with Valencia Waste Management Limited of London Road, Stretton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire. He had been using a lorry to lift two skips at the same time, deploying a method called ‘hot swapping’.
But the skips were not compatible as they were of different dimensions and fell at an angle onto the back of Mark’s lorry. Mark got on the lorry to correct the problem but the skips overbalanced and killed him.
John and Sue Wheatley, Mark’s parents, arrived at the scene of the incident following a phone call from their son asking for help. Sue said in a statement presented to the court: “Every single night as soon as I close my eyes, I see Mark lying crushed underneath the skip dead or dying.
“When we arrived at the scene we were held back by the police and so I couldn’t get close to him and couldn’t tell if he was dead or alive. That image is what I see every single night when I close my eyes and every single morning before I open my eyes. I shouted out to him that we were there. I will never know if he heard that or not.”
Keeley Martin, Mark’s partner, said in her victim personal statement: “To say Mark was my soulmate really is an understatement, he really was the kindest most caring man anyone could have the pleasure of meeting, he made a positive impact on everyone he met. The day he was taken he took a part of me with him, I nor anyone who knew him will ever be the same again.”
Mark Wheatley and his partner Keeley Martin who said: "He really was the kindest most caring man anyone could have the pleasure of meeting"
A Health and Safety Executive investigation found it ‘failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment into skip operations’ which meant that safe systems of work and appropriate training were not implemented.
Skips were also ‘not maintained in an efficient state’. And in addition, sizes were not displayed on the skips themselves.
In a second separate incident, Michael Atkin from Wetherby died while collecting a load of wastepaper bales at Valencia Waste Management Limited’s Grendon Road site in Earls Barton, Northamptonshire, on October 10, 2019.
The 63-year-old, a HGV driver employed by RT Keedwell, had been working at the site with a Valencia Waste Management employee, who was using a forklift truck to load Michael’s lorry with rows of bales.
With three rows of bales already loaded on Michael’s lorry, the Valencia employee then attempted to load a fourth row. However, while loading the fourth row, some bales in the third row were dislodged and fell off the lorry, crushing Michael. The HSE said ‘it seems Michael had been securing the other bales onto the lorry before he was crushed’. Each bale weighed at least 820kg.
Janet Atkin, Michael’s partner, said: “Since the loss of Michael, it has left an enormous hole in my life, four years later I’m still traumatised and I don’t sleep well.”
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An HSE investigation found it was not custom and practice at Valencia Waste Management Limited’s Earls Barton site for bales to be loaded onto lorries by fork lift truck operators at the same time the lorry driver was strapping bales which had previously been loaded onto the lorry flatbed.
Systems were in place for drivers to remain within their cabs, or in some other safe location away from the loading activity, but this was not adhered to at the time of the incident.
Valencia Waste Management Limited was hit with £3 million of fines combined for the incidents. Following the incident on 10 October 2019, Valencia Waste Management Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £1 million at Loughborough Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, September 6 2023.
For the January 17 2020 incident involving Mr Wheatley from Sutton the firm pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was was fined £2 million at Loughborough Magistrates’ Court on the same day. The company was also ordered to pay combined costs of £21,054.
Alan Hughes, senior enforcement lawyer at HSE, said: “These were two men at different stages of their lives, but the grief and pain across both families is devastating. Both deaths were avoidable.
“More needs to be done to make the use of vehicles on waste and recycling sites safer. We have a wealth of advice and guidance freely available.” This HSE prosecution was supported by HSE inspectors James Collins and Nicholas Moreby.
References
- ^ Major road shuts ‘for days’ for works causing traffic chaos (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
- ^ Corner shop could close as police find machete, open booze and 75p cigarettes (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
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- ^ Full list of roads where cameras will go up to enforce road rules (www.birminghammail.co.uk)