Avant Homes has been fined £333,000 after a driver was crushed to death by falling concrete blocks at a construction site in South Lanarkshire.
Conor Joseph Morgan, 45, had been delivering materials to Shott Farm in High Blantyre, a construction site being operated by the home builder, when the incident happened on 19 April 2017.
Morgan, who was employed as an HGV driver for Regen Waste Ltd, was crushed as the concrete blocks were being unloaded from the articulated flatbed trailer using an excavator with a pallet fork attachment.
The length of the pallet forks fitted to the excavator exceeded the width of the pallet being unloaded. As the pallet was being lifted, the forks caught a second pallet of concrete blocks causing them to topple from the edge of the trailer and onto Morgan.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Avant Homes, as the principal contractor on site, should have ensured there was a safe system of work for the unloading of the delivery vehicle driven by Morgan. It also found Regen Waste had not carried out a suitable and sufficient assessment of risk for the drivers delivering to remote sites not under its control.
Avant Homes (Scotland) Ltd of Edinburgh Park, Edinburgh pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It was fined £333,000 at Hamilton Sheriff Court on 19 June 2024.
Regen Waste Ltd of Newry, County Down, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(1)a of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. It was fined £23,000.
