Select a region
A skip hire company has been found guilty of breaching health and safety laws after its managing director broke his leg as he ran after, jumped into, and stopped a runaway truck.
The Royal Court found that Skinner Skips had failed to provide adequate health and safety training, specific risk assessments or appropriate supervision – even though the director of the company was also the victim of the accident.
The Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989 requires employers to, as far as practicable, provide all of these things to mitigate any risk to employees.
The case was brought after the company's only director, Paul Skinner, was injured as he tried to stop a runaway truck.
This means that though he was the victim of the accident and appeared in court using a crutch, Mr Skinner is also appearing on behalf of the company, which is the defendant in the case.
One of the company's hire trucks, the court heard, had failed an MOT test and needed work to fix an imbalance in its brakes.
On 13 October 2022, Mr Skinner, along with two employees, conducted repairs on the truck's brakes at the company's workshop at Bradford Farm in St Peter.
This was a test he said he and his employees conducted regularly, every 12 weeks for each of the 27 vehicles they owned.
The court heard how the truck had been jacked up and post-lifts used as wheel chocks – in fact, staff considered them a safer alternative due to their size and weight.
Mr Skinner had been in the truck's cabin to make sure the brakes worked after they had replaced a valve. He tested them several times, with his employee Jose Goncalves confirming that they worked.
He left the engine running and the vehicle in gear, but did not engage the handbrake, when he lowered the truck.
Advocate Steenson said to Mr Goncalves: "The vehicle was jacked up at the back but it was stopped from moving forward because the enormous chock was there."
"Mr Skinner put the vehicle in gear and you checked to see whether the wheels were stopping, and you yelled over to Mr Skinner 'yes' or 'all is fine'.
"You did that a couple of times, you said to Mr Skinner: 'Everything's fine'."
"This is where the problem arises because Mr Skinner got out of the cab without turning off the engine or putting the truck's handbrake o, and crucially, leaving it in gear.
"So when he got out of the cab, the engine was running, it was in gear, there was no handbrake and the first thing that Mr Skinner then did when he got out of the cab was unfortunately to remove the post-lift.
"And then Mr Skinner moved towards the rear of the truck. The truck is in gear, the handbrake isn't on, the chock is no longer in place, and he lowered the truck from the jack, and the vehicle started to go towards the entrance or exit of the shed."
Mr Skinner then ran after the truck and jumped in to stop it, the court heard.
But he did not manage to get into the cab in time, and injured his leg when the vehicle collided with another truck that was in its way.
The two employees present at the yard that day described how his leg was trapped by the cab door and, when Mr Goncalves managed to open the door, Mr Skinner fell to the ground.
He was rapidly tended to by paramedics.
Advocate David Steenson, defending, asked Mr Goncalves to run through the training he had received, and to explain how one would safely lower a vehicle from being jacked up.
But asked on Tuesday about details of the incident – including whether it was the company that had caused the accident, and whether "anyone who has ever driven a vehicle" would know the truck could move if it was lowered in gear, with the engine running, and without the handbrake applied – Mr Skinner repeatedly replied: "No comment."
A motor traffic officer for DVS, who was brought in as an expert witness, said the processes followed at the workshop were not safe enough.
He said: "A trolley jack alone is not very stable and the truck is liable to slip off [if there are] any sudden jerks or movements."
He said he would use axle stands in almost every case, as these offer a second point of contact.
Crown Advocate Harrison asked him: "A trolley jack was used, but an axle stand was not. In your opinion is that a safe way to work?"
Mr Firmino replied: "No."
The defence pointed out that Mr Firmino had not travelled to see the vehicle (even though he had knowledge of similar trucks).
Crown Advocate Harrison said: "It is important to keep in mind that the system of work was not a one-off."
He said the company "failed to provide a safe system of work for testing brakes."
"By their own documents they were engaged in high-risk work."
Skinner Skips did not put in place the appropriate training and supervision for handling dangerous tasks, testing the brakes on a heavy lorry, Advocate Harrison said.
And the generic risk assessment provided to the court, he said, "does not deal specifically with the rests to which employees are exposed while carrying out chocking or testing in the workshop."
"This was not the fault of Mr Skinner on his own. Two other persons were involved," he continued.
"Mr Skinner is the sole director. Mr Skinner was the man the company acted through."
Advocate Steenson said that Mr Skinner "was the architect of his own misfortune".
He pointed towards Mr Skinner's 40 years of experience in workshop environments, as well as to the company not having had any accidents in the workshop - though one employee was killed in 2014. This happened outside the workshop and the company was not found to be at fault.
Advocate Steenson added that the training that Skinner Skips would need according to the prosecution would be superfluous.
"I don't have to tell my employees not to stick their fingers in the electric sockets, or do I?" he said.
"Unfortunately for Mr Skinner, he was at fault. He knew not to do what he did, he trained people not to do what he did."
The Deputy Bailiff asked the Jurats to consider whether Mr Skinner was one and the same as the company.
"If you find that he can't be considered another person, you must find him guilty," he instructed them.
The Jurats who were sitting were Lieutenant Bailiff Robert Christensen and Michael Berry.
Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae was presiding.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.