Beskab is fined after shock
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/Wigan-based Beskab has been fined £1,000 by the Macclesfield magistrates, after an incident in which one of the company's drivers received an electric shock.
Beskab pleaded guilty to an offence of failing to provide a safe place of work for driver Ernest Grimes.
Frederick Sant, prosecuting for the Health & Safety Executive, said Grimes was lifting a steel container when it came into contact with overhead wires. He sustained burns to his legs and lost a toe. The container was attached to a crane on Grimes' vehicle. He proceeded to lift the container and it made contact with the overhead electric cables, which Grimes had thought were telephone cables. The electric shock left him unconscious for some time and burnt the vehicle's wheels.
The weather was bad and it was dark. The overhead cables could not be seen because of the conditions and no lighting was provided by the company.
Lighting should have been provided, said Sant and a crane of that type should be operated only by trained personnel. Grimes had not received any such training and was the holder of only an LGV driving licence. He was lucky to be alive, after lIkV had passed through his body.
Defending, Isaac Wolf enden said Beskab had hired the steel container to a customer and it had no control over the site where the accident occurred. The electricity in the overhead cables should have been switched off and they should have been clearly lit. The cables had resembled telephone wire rather than high-voltage electrical cables. There were warning notices on the poles but they were not very clear.
Since this incident, lights had been fitted to all the company's vehicles.
All its drivers had now been issued with a Health & Safety Guide and they had been specifically instructed to contact head office if working in the vicinity of overhead wires.