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Two firms have been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive in Scotland after a lorry driver was killed while delivering gates to garden centre in Inverness. A Scottish work accident claim may now be forthcoming.
The steel safety gates, weighing 153kg, fell onto the driver as they were being unloaded from his truck in August 2008.
At Inverness Sheriff Court the driver's employers, an Inverness-based haulage company, and the manufacturers of the gates both pleaded guilty to breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
It was deemed that the firms' joint failure to adequately communicate the nature of the delivery meant that a safe system of work was not in place for the lorry driver who died as a result of his personal injuries.
HSE Inspector Graeme McMinn said, "This was a horrific and entirely avoidable incident. If proper safety measures had been taken, [the accident victim] could still be alive today.
"Those involved in arranging and carrying out deliveries should exchange and agree information to ensure lorries can be loaded and unloaded in a safe manner.
"They must make sure a safe way of working is in place and that workers have clear responsibilities so everyone involved in the lifting operation knows what everyone else is meant to be doing and where they are meant to be.
"They must also make sure that, when loading and unloading is taking place, adequate measures are taken to keep workers away from this work."
It has not been reported whether civil action will be taken in respect of a Scottish work accident claim.
