The managing director of a Merseyside waste disposal firm has admitted safety failings after a worker was crushed to death inside a compactor machine in December 2010.
Trading company Gaskells (North West) Ltd has already accepted one charge of failing to ensure the safety of its employees after Zbigniew Galka, 39, was killed after climbing into a baling machine to fix a fault at Gaskells Waste Services in Bootle.
At Liverpool Crown Court earlier this month (7 January), Managing Director Jonathan Gaskell admitted the same offence after previously pleading not guilty to breaches of health and safety legislation. Another employee, Michael Cunliffe, 43, admitted failing to take responsibility for the safety of other people who might be affected by his actions.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) charged the defendants following an investigation into the incident that occurred five years ago.
The court heard how Galka, who lived in Anfield, climbed into a BOA compactor, a machine used to prepare waste for recycling by compacting material with hydraulic panels, to fix a fault.
The machine was activated while Galka was inside, crushing him to death. The court had previously heard it was unclear how the machine came to be activated. A Home Office post-mortem examination found that Galka has suffered haemorrhaging, shock and severe traumatic injury to both legs.
Paul Jukes, a manager at the firm, continues to deny allegations of failing to take responsibility for the safety of other people and will stand trial on 15 February. The company, Gaskell and Cunliffe will be subject to a sentencing hearing at the court on 25 April.
Gaskells operates the largest commercial recycling facility in Liverpool, processing more than 70,000 tonnes of waste material each year according to the company brochure.
Dangers of the waste and resources sector
The waste and recycling industry has been branded as one of the most dangerous to work in, and figures released by HSE in July revealed that 11 people, including six members of the public, were fatally injured in the waste and resources sector in 2014/15.
In 2013, HSE published the ‘Waste Industry Safety and Health (WISH) blueprint 2012-15’ to outline ‘immediate action points’ that employers can take to provide clearer training and safer workplaces.
Further information is available in the HSE’s ‘Statistics on fatal injuries in the workplace in Great Britain 2015’.
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