Three companies have been fined for health and safety failings after a man was badly hurt when he was hit by two falling skips at Carlisle’s Pirelli tyre factory.
Service engineer Ivan Weightman visited the city’s Dalston Road complex on November 14 2019 to inspect a forklift truck.
The truck was leased by his employer to International Rubber and Tyre Recycling. It and Tyneside-based DCS Multiserve were contractors responsible for disposing of waste tyres which were initially compacted, individually, in a specialist machine.
Carlisle Crown Court heard today how a crude secondary practice of squashing stacks of tyres — ready for loading on to a wagon container — had then been invented by a man working at the site. This, said prosecutor Mark Monaghan, was carried out daily, routinely and over the course of several years.
It involved using a forklift to place a loaded industrial skip on top of a waste tyre stack. The skip was left in place, supported by the forklift, until waste tyres were sufficiently squashed, ready for onward disposal. The forklift was sometimes left unattended with keys in the ignition.
“It was an improvised, unsafe practice of work that was allowed to persist over a long period of time,” said Mr Monaghan. Pirelli knew it was happening, he told the court.
“It was an inherently unsafe process,” added Mr Monaghan. “It should have been stopped.”
Two skips had been loaded on to a tyre stack ready for that squashing process prior to Mr Weightman’s visit in November 2019. Mr Weightman, totally unaware of the procedure, reversed the forklift truck away from the stack ahead of a mandatory inspection, and walked around it.
“As he did so, the skips fell,” said Mr Monaghan. One struck him on the back, pinning his right leg to the ground. The second landed on his left leg.
Mr Weightman, now 47, was trapped and called for help which arrived and he was released. He had suffered multiple back fractures, a spiral break of his left femur, nerve compression to his left foot and compression damage to his right leg.
In a statement, he described being in hospital for five days after the incident. He underwent surgery and spoke of lasting physical and psychological effects, a loss of self-esteem and being prescribed anti-depressant medication for four-plus years.
“His leisure activities, in a variety of different ways, are significantly curtailed now,” said Mr Monaghan.
The court heard a failure by Pirelli Tyres Ltd, DCS and also IRTR to co-ordinate their approach to risk management meant no company — despite all sharing the same factory workspace — took responsibility for the dangerous work activity.
As a result, there was a failure to risk assess the task with any attempt to eliminate or control the dangers created being missed.
Pirelli, of Derby Road, Burton-on-Trent, and IRTR, of Moorhead Lane, Shipley, admitted two health and safety law breaches, while DCS, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, admitted one breach. Representatives of each firm submitted a formal basis for admissions of guilt.
Improvements had been made by all three firms to ensure all strict rules were followed.
Barrister Richard Matthews KC, for Pirelli, said of the Mr Weightman’s ordeal: “The company regrets this enormously.” He added of the court process: “This is, in many respects, a horribly dry process far removed from the human costs. Everybody at Pirelli recognises and regrets these human costs. It is fortunate that it wasn’t death.”
Counsel representing DCS and IRTR also expressed regret and remorse.
Recorder Julian Shaw observed Mr Weightman had suffered extremely unpleasant, long-lasting, life-altering injuries.
“It is obvious that the practice that had been allowed to perpetuate for so long was potentially a lethal practice,” concluded the judge.
Pirelli was fined £280,000, IRTR must pay a £9,000 fine and DCS was fined £2,600. All must also pay costs.
