The incident took place outside a cinema in Ashton-on-Ribble when father-of-one Carl Green was struck by a reversing van in a paved area outside the entrance to the Odeon Cinema on 27th July 2010.
The 45-year-old painter from Chorley had been working on a project for EMC Contracts Ltd to fit out a new coffee shop in the cinema when the incident happened. He died from his injuries on the way to hospital
During an eight-day-trial, Preston Crown Court was told EMC Contracts had been hired for a five-week project to fit a coffee shop in the foyer area of the cinema, on Port Way in Ashton-on-Ribble.
One of EMC’s employees had unloaded his van of construction materials and was reversing it to park up outside the cinema when it struck Mr Green, who was crossing behind it.
An HSE investigation found the company did not have any control measures in place to keep vehicles involved in the construction work away from pedestrians outside the cinema. As a result, both workers and members of the public had been put in danger.
The company had written a method statement for the work, which identified the risk of pedestrians being injured by vehicles as a main hazard. However, they failed to state what measures should be taken to reduce or eliminate the risk.
Emma Prescott, the mother of Mr Green’s daughter, Morgan, said: ‘Our daughter was seven when Carl lost his life, and it continues to have a huge effect on her. Fathers’ Day, Christmas and Carl’s birthday are very difficult times.
‘She should be doing all the lovely things children do with their dads but she can’t. Both our lives have been turned upside down and they will never be the same again.’
EMC Contracts Ltd, which has been put into voluntary liquidation, was found guilty of two breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company, of Faraday Court in Fulwood, was fined £130,000 and ordered to pay £52,790 in prosecution costs on 5 March 2014.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Susan Ritchie said: ‘Carl Green tragically lost his life because the company that employed him didn’t fulfil its responsibilities to ensure his health and safety.
‘There were numerous measures the company could have implemented to either eliminate or reduce the risk of collision, such as prohibiting vehicles from reversing or avoiding using its vehicles outside the cinema entrance altogether.
‘These measures could have been implemented with little cost but the company still failed to act. As a result, a man lost his life.’
The HSE says that nearly a quarter of all deaths involving vehicles at work occur during reversing. Many other reversing accidents do not result in injury but cause costly damage to vehicles, equipment and premises.
Information on how to prevent injuries involving workplace transport is available at www.hse.gov.uk/workplacetransport.
