Company Pays Fine for Injury to Trespasser
Tarmac Ltd, a Wolverhampton based company, had to pay a fine of £10,000 and costs of suit of £6,000 after a 15-year-old boy got unauthorised entry inside their Cornelly Quarry and fell from a height of 50ft in May, 2008. He suffered grave injuries including a broken elbow, fractured wrist and chipped pelvis.
The company was charged for the infringement of Regulation 16 of the Quarries Regulations 1999 after an HSE investigation found that that hedge which was intended to keep public out had been removed in order to extend the quarry. However, it was not put back in place even though the expansion itself was being delayed. There were only earth banks on the sides that anyone could have climbed. This was the place from where the boy had entered into the quarry.
The company was prosecuted by HSE before Cardiff Crown Court where it pleaded guilty for the charges.
HSE was very clear about the fact that the boy had no right to enter the quarry. However, even the company should have known that the lack of proper boundary might be dangerous as people might try to get in. The company should have put stronger fences in order to prevent such an incident and earth banks were definitely not a sufficient barrier.
According to HSE, this case will prompt the quarry owners to carry on a risk assessment of their property and understand the need to prevent such incidents. However, the public must also understand that they have no job entering a quarry without authorisation even if it is accessible, as it can be dangerous. Even in this incident, the boy was lucky to have got away with only recoverable injuries. This is the third reported case of such an accident in the recent past.
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