A teenage apprentice suffered serious facial injuries when he became trapped under a bus after its air suspension failed.
Ben Burgin, 17 was working at Stagecoach Yorkshire’s garage at Wakefield Road in Barnsley, when the incident took place on 7 September 2009. He was working with an experienced fitter to repair a braking fault on a bus, which was fitted with an air-suspension system.
In order to carry out the repairs Mr Burgan slid beneath the bus, near the front passenger wheel, despite the presence of an unoccupied inspection pit. While he was underneath the vehicle an air bag on the suspension ruptured and caused the 14-tonne bus to fall and trap him underneath. His colleague managed to raise the bus and pull him free, but only after Burgan had suffered a fractured skull and broken nose. He required restorative plastic surgery to his nose and eye socket and was unable to return to work for two months owing to his injuries.
An HSE investigation found that Mr Burgin had not been trained to do the work and his employer Yorkshire Traction Company Ltd, which operated the garage, failed to both carry out a risk assessment and create a safe system of work.
HSE inspector Steve Kay told SHP that workers should never slide underneath a bus to carry out repairs and the garage operator should have ensured that the work was carried out inside the inspection pit. He said: “When employing young people, it is crucial that firms take particular account of their obvious lack of experience and lack of awareness of risks.
“The risks involved when working on buses and coaches with air-suspension systems are well known in the motor industry. The latest guidance has warnings about never going underneath unless the buses are properly supported. There have been incidents in the past, including deaths, when air-suspension systems have failed catastrophically while someone was underneath.
“Yorkshire Traction fell well below a reasonable standard. It failed to take basic precautions, such as looking at all the risks involved and specifying a safe system of work for their employees, including close supervision.”
Yorkshire Traction Company, now trading as Stagecoach Yorkshire, appeared at Barnsley Magistrates’ Court on 12 December and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974 and reg.3(1) of the MHSWR 1999. It was fined a total of £15,000 and ordered to pay £8473 in costs.
In mitigation, the firm said its failure to create a safe system of work was an oversight and this was quickly corrected. It entered an early guilty plea after cooperating with the investigation. The company had no previous convictions.
In a statement, Paul Lynch, managing director of Stagecoach Yorkshire, said: “The safety of our staff is of paramount importance and we have strict healthy and safety procedures in place at all of our depots. We carried out a thorough investigation into this incident at the time and assisted HSE fully throughout their investigation.
“We have since put in place a series of measures to help prevent similar incidents, including strengthened health and safety training for all apprentices and new employees, as well as carrying out a revision of our risk assessments and safety procedures.”
He added that the supervisor at the time of the incident is no longer employed by the company.
Approaches to managing the risks associated Musculoskeletal disorders
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, we hear from Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomics Consultant at HSE’s Science and Research Centre, about the different approaches to managing the risks associated with Musculoskeletal disorders.
Matt, an ergonomics and human factors expert, shares his thoughts on why MSDs are important, the various prevalent rates across the UK, what you can do within your own organisation and the Risk Management process surrounding MSD’s.
