A waste management firm has been fined after a lorry driver of one of their vehicles was crushed and sustained fatal personal injuries at a landfill site. The tragic work place accident occurred on the Northamptonshire landfill site.

The lorry driver who sustained fatal personal injuries arrived at the landfill site to empty his lorry.  Due to wet weather and soft ground conditions, he required assistance from a bulldozer to get his lorry on to and off the tipping area.

The lorry was towed by a bulldozer on to the tipping area. The lorry driver was able to tip part of his load however, to tip his full load he had to move his lorry further forwards. As the lorry driver tried to move his lorry forwards he realised it had become stuck in the soft ground.  The driver of a compactor machine working nearby saw the difficulty the lorry driver was in and radioed the lorry driver to say he would drive up behind the lorry and push the lorry forwards with his vehicle. The bulldozer driver then told the lorry driver that he would tow the lorry forwards and the bulldozer driver reversed the bulldozer to the front of the lorry.

As the lorry driver was standing in front of the lorry attaching the tow rope so the bulldozer could tow the lorry the compactor driver began to push the lorry forwards from the back. The lorry driver became caught between the front of the lorry and the bulldozer and was crushed. The lorry driver sustained fatal injuries.

The bulldozer driver and compactor driver had not communicated with each other causing the tragic workplace accident to occur.