Dumper truck runs over road worker's foot

A Northamptonshire contractor has been fined after a six-tonne dumper truck ran over a worker’s foot.

Self-employed ground worker Ross Smith, 23, was helping to build a roadway at a construction site on Wolsey Way, Lincoln, on 11 March 2011 when the machine ran him over.

Lincoln Magistrates’ Court heard that Maypine Construction was main contractor on the job where Smith and a colleague were filling the roadway with stone, in preparation for surfacing.

The stone was loaded on to the dumper truck at the top of the site which was then driven to an area being filled and compacted by  Smith, who was operating a compacting machine.

Smith saw the front-loaded truck approaching the work area and began to move his machine away, but the court was told the dumper truck driver was concentrating on avoiding other obstacles and collided with Smith, driving over his foot.

He suffered four broken bones in his right foot.

The HSE investigation found Maypine Construction  had failed to provide a suitable traffic route around the site, failed to manage and monitor construction activity and failed to carry out a suitable risk assessment.

The company, of Enterprise Road, Raunds, Northamptonshire, pleaded guilty to safety regulations and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £5,749 costs.

After the hearing HSE inspector Martin Waring said: “Many construction transport incidents are usually the result of inadequate separation of pedestrians and vehicles, and by inadequate control of vehicle movements on site.

“Vehicles at work continue to be a major cause of fatal and major injuries and as such need to be carefully managed to avoid injuries such as this.”