Fined after LGV hits overhead power line BP MCKEEFRY has
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been fined £6,000 after one of its trucks hit an 11,000V overhead power line as the driver tipped fertiliser onto farmland.
In a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Sefton Magistrates' Court in Bootle was told how the 26-year-old driver from Liverpool had been delivering the fertiliser to a site in Maghull, Merseyside, in March 2011 when the incident happened.
He tipped the fertiliser onto the ground and moved his vehicle forward, while the trailer was still raised, to empty the remaining contents.
As he did this, the corner of the trailer struck an overhead power line approximately 7m above the ground.
The worker, who does not wish to be named, jumped from the truck when he heard popping sounds and noticed the tyres on the driver's side of the vehicle were on fire.
He jumped back into the vehicle to move it away after noticing it was touching an overhead cable. An HSE investigation found the firm's employees had not received adequate training for managing the risks from overhead cables.
Employees should also have known not to re-enter vehicles touching overhead cables until they had been made safe.
BP McKeefry admitted a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of its employees.
The company was then also ordered to pay £3,000 in prosecution costs.
Summing up The court was told that BP McKed'ry's employees should have been trained not to raise trailers within at least 10m of power lines.