Taylor Wimpey fined following death of apprentice

Prosecutions and Claims |
14.03.2008

Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey must pay £75,000 after admitting safety failures relating to the death of an 18-year-old apprentice.

In August 2003, Grant Meyrick, a self-employed bricklayer who was studying as a modern apprentice at Stoke-on-Trent College, was working at Taylor Wimpey housing development in Trentham.

The vehicle that usually moved buckets of mortar around the site was out of use because it had punctured tyres, so workers were loading tubs filled with mortar into the front bucket of a tractor loader.

Meyrick was waiting at the bottom of the mortar silo when the tractor loader skidded to a halt, trapping him between the bucket and one the silo's legs. He suffered internal crush injuries and died on 26 August.

"In the area of the mortar silos there were no physical precautions provided to adequately segregate pedestrians from moving vehicles, such as barriers or vehicle wheel stops," said HSE inspector Dave Brassington. "There was also no effective control of the movement of vehicles or pedestrians in the area of the silos."

Taylor Wimpey Developments, formerly Taylor Woodrow Developments, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act for its failure to take reasonable steps to ensure Meyrick's safety.

On 11 March at Stoke Crown Court, the firm was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £25,000 costs.

Every year, around 70 people are killed in transport-related accidents in the workplace and around eight of those involve fork-lift trucks.