RECYCLING company SITA UK has been fined £200,000 after a 21-year-old employee died from head injuries at its paper baling site in Tipton.
The Health and Safety Executive prosecuted the firm after Mark Bate was killed instantly when the arm of a JCB skid steer loader crushed his head in June 2008.
Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Mr Bate had been driving the vehicle for three months without being properly trained and on the day of the incident had been working on his own to load scrap paper on to a conveyor.
HSE’s investigating officers found he had not been formally trained, assessed or supervised in the use of the equipment which had not been maintained in the eight months before the incident.
