A highway maintenance worker slipped into a coma after suffering serious head injuries when the excavator he was driving struck a bridge on the M1 motorway in the East Midlands.

Engineering firm Van Elle Ltd was contracted to assist with road-widening work between Junction 25 to 28 on the motorway. On 22 September 2009, maintenance fitter Simon Foulke, who was employed by the firm, was operating a wheeled excavator when the vehicle’s boom hit a bridge.

Mr Foulke, 39, had been trained in how to use the machine to lift loads, but was not shown how to safely transport the excavator across a construction site. When he moved the vehicle its boom was positioned at an unsafe height. The manufacturer’s guidance states the boom must not be more than four metres high while travelling, but in this case the machine was being driven with the boom elevated to more than six metres. 



The excavator was travelling at 10mph when the boom struck the bridge, and Mr Foulke, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was thrown over the steering column and through the open front screen. He hit his head on the front excavator blade and remained in a coma for two weeks. He was unable to return to work for five months and still suffers from reduced function in his left arm and leg.



HSE inspector Kevin Wilson explained that the company failed to ensure that Mr Foulke was properly trained in the activity he was asked to undertake. He said: “This worker was extremely lucky to escape with his life. As it is, he has been left with life-changing injuries.

“These injuries were wholly preventable had the company ensured the driver had adequate training in safe travel positions for manoeuvring the excavator on the construction project.

“They failed to take into account his lack of training for the particular task, and there was a risk of striking overhead restrictions from when the journey started with the boom in the elevated position. His injuries could have been mitigated against if the operator had been wearing his seatbelt.”

Van Elle Ltd appeared at Mansfield Magistrates’ Court on 23 January and pleaded guilty to breaching reg.9(1) of PUWER 1998, for failing to adequately train Mr Foulke. It was fined £12,750 and ordered to pay £29,660 in costs.

In mitigation, the company said Mr Foulke had ignored company policy by failing to wear a seatbelt, which, it argues, would have prevented him from suffering such severe injuries. It also said the principal contractor didn’t put warning signs on the bridge to notify drivers of the maximum height that vehicles could safely pass underneath, despite similar signs having been installed on other bridges on the site.

The firm has subsequently modified its procedures to ensure staff are suitably trained before being allocated to jobs.