Just £50,000 for a life

A South Devon firm has been sentenced for serious safety breaches after a worker was killed after likely being thrown from a six-tonne dumper truck.

Ben Sewell was found lying on his back on a bank, a few metres behind the overturned dumper, on a sloping dirt track at Dittisham Recycling Centre in 2012.

The firm was fined just £50,000 plus costs at Plymouth Crown Court; the fine reflecting Dittisham’s current financial circumstances.

After the case, HSE inspector David Cory said that had Dittisham “ensured staff were sufficiently trained, equipment was properly used ... then Ben Sewell would most likely be still be alive”.

http://press.hse.gov.uk/2015/death-of-young-worker-leads-to-court-for-recycling-company