DHL fined £2.6m for "avoidable" death of Coventry employee...

[dutchman]

Logistics company DHL has been fined £2.6million for health and safety breaches after an employee at its Coventry tyre distribution centre was killed in an avoidable accident



Robert Baynham was crushed when a stack of tyre stillages toppled and two of them fell through the roof of the office where he and three colleagues who were also injured were working.

Following an investigation, DHL Services Ltd pleaded guilty to failing to carry out a risk assessment and failing to ensure the safety of employees.

And at Warwick Crown Court, the company was fined £2.6 million for what Mr Justice Jeremy Baker described as its ‘serious corporate failure.’

Prosecutor Bernard Thorogood said the charges followed a tragic incident at DHL’s tyre distribution centre on the Prologis business park in Coventry overnight on February 2, 2016.

He explained that the premises was principally used for the bulk storage and distribution of Bridgestone tyres.

But it also handled what were referred to as ‘cross-stocked’ tyres – which would come in from other manufacturers to be shipped out again, usually the same night.

Those would be stored on a temporary basis away from the bulk storage area used for the Bridgestone tyres.

Mr Thorogood said the tyres were held in stillages, metal frames, in which tyres of different types were contained, with some of them being much heavier than others.

In the early hours of February 2 a ‘tall and heavy stack’ of eight cross-stocked stillages had been placed next to an office in which Mr Baynham, John Knight, Bernard Halpin and Jason Gordon were working.

“The risks of forming stacks of stillages are obvious, and the company knew of previous topples. Past events showed this is a well-established risk and should have been factored into the defendant company’s consideration.”

But when the stack toppled, possibly after being knocked as a second stack was being put next to it, the top two stillages, each of which weighed 578 kilos, fell through the office roof.Fifty-year-old Mr Baynham suffered multiple injuries from which he died after being rushed to hospital.

Mr Knight, aged 35, suffered three fractures to his skull, a bleed to his brain, eight fractured ribs, a fractured collarbone and sternum, and was in hospital for two weeks.

The other two men suffered less serious injuries, and were discharged after treatment, but have suffered ongoing effects as a result of what happened.

Fining DHL Services Ltd, Mr Justice Baker said: “The immediate cause of the stack toppling over is unclear, but not only was it comprised of different sizes of tyres, the handling driver was in the process of constructing a similar stack which may have led to some contact with it.

“DHL has sought to personalise the acceptance of fault on its behalf. However, although such contention may be correct in this case, this does not deflect from DHL’s corporate responsibility to make a risk assessment.

“Although there may have been an individualised failure to make a proper risk assessment, there was a corporate failure to do so."

And Mr Justice Baker pointed out that DHL, which he said had a £1.4 billion annual turnover, had two previous health and safety convictions in 2017 and 2018.

[dutchman]

Nobody ever goes to jail do they?