Miller Construction and PJ Carey Contractors fined £175,000 after dumper death

Miller Construction and PJ Carey Contractors have been fined a total of £175,000 at Maidstone Crown Court following a fatal incident involving a dumper truck at the £100m Fremlin Walk development in Maidstone, Kent in 2003.

Justin Taylor, 29, was killed when he was hit by a dumper driven by Barry Pollen, formerly of Beach Road, South Shields, Tyne and Wear. The brakes on the dumper are understood to have failed before it ran down a slope.

Miller Construction was fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £52,228 costs. PJ Carey Contractors was fined £100,000 plus costs of £17,643.

Pollen was fined £1,000, while a second man, Sean Mongan of Upland Grove, Leeds, West Yorkshire was fined £2,500. Both men were warned that they would face 28 days' imprisonment if they failed to pay the fine.

Pollen had previously admitted to: driving the dumper when he was not qualified; continuing to drive the dumper after being told not to; and attempting to tip a load when the tipping area of the spoil heap was congested with material.

Mongan was accused of : authorising Pollen to drive the dumper when it is alleged he knew he was not qualified; failing to prevent him from driving it when he had been ordered not to; and failing to address dangerous practices on the site.

Miller Construction was charged with an offence under Section 3(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994.

PJ Carey Contractors was charged with an offence under Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

HM Inspector of Health and Safety Peter Collingwood said: "This fatal accident could clearly have been avoided if all the parties involved had co-operated in setting up a safe site, ensuring that there was safe plant that was only being operated by trained competent drivers.

"On this occasion the companies involved failed to carry out even the most basic checks on the drivers ability to safely operate a dumper. It is likely that a trained driver would have recognised that the dumper was unsafe to be used and that it should be taken out of service until repaired.

"If adequately segregated pedestrian routes had been provided to enable people to walk to their places of work without sharing vehicle routes then it is likely that Justin Taylor would not have been in the vicinity of the dumper when its brakes failed, resulting in him being struck when it ran down a slope out of control."