Company fined £240k after granddad killed by lorry

A man with short grey hair, glasses and a blue shirt, smiles as he stands in front of a window.Image source, Family
Image caption,

David Saint, 61, died after he was hit by a lorry as it reversed

  • Published

A company has been fined £240,000 after a grandfather was killed by a lorry as it reversed.

David Saint was working as an engineering manager at Northwood Consumer Ltd in Birmingham on 19 October 2023.

The 61-year-old, from Spalding, Lincolnshire, was struck by the HGV while he was walking across a service road at the Electra Park industrial estate, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said.

The company, headquartered in Telford, Shropshire, was ordered to pay the fine plus costs of £6,917 at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on Monday after admitting two breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act at an earlier hearing.

Mr Saint's daughter Samantha said: "He was my everything, there was nothing he wasn't involved in.

"My life now consists of 'what would dad do?'. I think of him and miss him every day."

An aerial image of a depot with parked cars and lorries scattered around. Image source, HSE
Image caption,

David Saint was killed at Northwood Consumer Ltd's site in Birmingham

An investigation by the HSE found Northwood Consumer Ltd failed to:

  • Undertake a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks associated with workplace transport

  • Address the movement of HGVs in its site rules

  • Eliminate, as far as possible, the need for HGVs to reverse

  • Provide any aids or assistance to HGVs that had to be reversed

  • Display any signage to warn of the hazards arising from the movement of HGVs

  • Control when HGVs would access the site

Lead HSE inspector Charlie Rowe said pedestrians killed by moving vehicles was a leading cause of workplace deaths in the country.

He described Mr Saint's death as a "tragic and shocking" case which devastated his loved ones.

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