After hitting and killing a customer in his van, the owner of Complete Car Care in England’s Berkshire County has been sentenced for failing to have a proper safety system in place, according to a report by Health and Safety Executive, an independent regulator for work-related health, safety and illness in Great Britain.
Guilty of two separate breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, Mark Walker — the repair shop owner — was fined 7,500 pounds and given 250 hours of community service work.
While backing his van out of his company’s driveway on March 12, 2012, Walker hit Frederick Gleeson, a customer who was dropping his car off to have an oil leak checked. Gleeson sustained fatal head injuries and passed away later the same day, says the report.
According to the report, HSE’s investigation found that Walker had no safety system for managing the movement of his vehicles. The van had no rear visibility and a rear monitoring camera wasn’t used. In addition, HSE found that Walker did not check if the route was clear and didn’t have any assistance when reversing his van, says the report.
“Mr. Gleeson’s tragic death was entirely preventable and could have been avoided had Mark Walker taken precautions before reversing his van,” said HSE Inspector Nigel Fitzhugh. “Managing the movement of vehicles at his premises was entirely his responsibility, and it is clear there was no system in place to control this. Pedestrians and vehicles should always be segregated, and if that cannot happen, then other precautions should be put in place.”
Click here for the full Health and Safety Executive report: http://press.hse.gov.uk/2013/business-owner-sentenced-for-customer-death-failings/
