A man who fatally injured a work colleague by driving over him twice with a telehandler at a biomass facility has been jailed for over three years after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
Ian McCollum, 52, was struck by a telehandler when a colleague drove the vehicle forward with their view blocked. He was then hit a second time as the vehicle reversed.
McKinstry Biomass Ltd and Walter Manley, 53, were sentenced following the death at the company’s site in Newry on 24 January 2022.
The biomass company was fined a total of £120,000 for three separate health and safety offences.
Manley, who was employed by the company at the time, was given an immediate custodial sentence of three years and four months after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
He was also handed a further 12-month sentence for a separate health and safety offence, which will run concurrently.
McCollum, who was employed by McKinstry Skip Hire Ltd, had driven a Volvo tractor unit with a 40ft ejector trailer of wood waste to the Newry site for disposal.
While he stood in the yard watching the waste being ejected from his trailer, a JCB Wastemaster telehandler driven by Manley moved towards the same waste bay and struck him.
After tipping the vehicle’s load, Manley reversed the telehandler and struck McCollum a second time.
A reconstruction of the incident found that the telehandler’s raised, waste-filled bucket left Manley with little to no forward visibility as he approached McCollum.
The cab’s rear window was dirty, obstructing its visibility, and the offside rear mirror was significantly misadjusted, leaving Manley unable to see behind the vehicle. Manley also failed to identify McCollum in the machine’s rear camera before reversing.
Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) conducted a joint investigation into the tragedy.
The inquiry found McKinstry Biomass Ltd had made ‘significant failings’ in the management of workplace transport risks.
The waste company was also found to have failed to ensure that both pedestrians and vehicles could circulate the site safely.
This included a lack of suitable information, instruction and training in relation to working within operational areas of the site where vehicles and pedestrians would interact.
The investigation also found there was inadequate supervision and a lack of communication on the site, as well as a ‘system of unwritten rules’ rather than formal protocols.
Commenting on the sentencing, HSENI Major Investigation Team Inspector Kiara Blackburn said: “No job should cost a person their life. Mr McCollum’s death was wholly preventable and highlights the high cost of health and safety standards falling short.”
“Employees also have a responsibility to take reasonable care for the safety of others and to operate vehicles properly in line with their training and instruction. This tragedy has had devastating consequences for his family, friends and colleagues.”