Firm fined after driver dies swerving to avoid buoy
The lorry was captured on CCTV shortly before the front mooring buoy fell onto the road
- Published
An Aberdeen-based haulage company has been fined £241,875 for failures that led to the death of a motorist in Angus.
Driver George Moran, 53, died when he was forced to swerve to avoid a mooring buoy, which came loose and fell from one of Colin Lawson Transport Limited's lorries.
The firm admitted failing to ensure that the loads they were transporting were properly secured and did not pose a risk to the public.
Mr Moran's wife Pamela was seriously injured in the incident, which happened on the A92 between Montrose and Stonehaven at Kinnaber in August 2020.
The company admitted a charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £225,000 with a victim surcharge of £16,875 at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
The court was told that in a separate incident four months later on the same road near Johnshaven, an inadequately secured load shifted when the lorry transporting it clipped a kerb causing the vehicle to become unstable and turn onto its nearside, causing damage to a wall.
A court heard that an inadequately secured load caused one of the firm's lorries to tip over in a separate incident four months later
A joint investigation between Police Scotland, the Crown Office, and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the firm had failed to conduct a proper assessment of the risks connected with the transportation of loads.
They also failed to create and put into effect suitable arrangements or provide adequate information, instruction and training to employees in relation to the proper securing of loads being transported on their vehicles.
Debbie Carroll, who leads health and safety investigations for the Crown Office, said: "George Moran lost his life, and his wife was severely injured in circumstances which could have been avoided had the risks been recognised and simple plans put in place.
"By failing to do so Colin Lawson Transport Limited put the public's health and safety at risk."
The same company was fined £180,000 in 2018, external for health and safety failings that led to the death of a worker at the company's yard in Aberdeen.