Morganite Electrical Carbon fined for driver death 23 January 2014

Morganite Electrical Carbon has been fined £120,000 plus £16,021 costs, after a truck driver was crushed and killed at its site when unloading heavy graphite parts in a dangerous manner.

Ahmet Yakar, 52, was struck by parts, weighing up to a quarter-of-a-tonne each, at the Swansea site on 19 July 2011.

The company was prosecuted by the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) for failing to ensure an unloading operation was properly and safely managed.

Swansea Crown Court heard that Yakar was reluctant to open up the sides of his curtain-sided truck as he arrived to make a delivery. He was supplied with a hand-operated pallet truck to move the boxes to the back of the lorry, where they were transferred to a forklift.

During the operation, the boxes – at the time stacked four high – became unstable and the top box toppled and knocked him off the lorry.

The next box toppled onto him as he lay on the floor. Despite efforts to free and revive him, he died at the scene.

"This tragic incident could have been avoided had Morganite carried out a proper risk assessment of the unloading procedure and insisted Mr Yakar open the curtain sides to the truck instead of unloading from the rear of the vehicle," states HSE inspector Steve Lewis.

"The company failed to provide their employees with suitable instructions and safe systems of work for accepting lorry deliveries to site. They should have taken responsibility for the driver's safety and the delivery and unloading operation."

Brian Tinham

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Health & Safety Executive

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