A building contractor has been fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £4,052 in costs after a boy, illegally employed, was injured after overturning a dumper truck.
Despite it being illegal to employ children who are still of compulsory school age to work on construction sites, Kevin Banks hired the boy to work on building site near Gloucester. The boy was hurt when the truck overturned as he was driving it down a slope. He was not wearing a seat-belt at the time and suffered serious leg and foot injuries.
A subsequent HSE investigation found that Mr Banks had failed to properly plan, manage and monitor the work situation thereby putting the boy and others on the site at risk. HSE inspector Sue Adsett, speaking after the hearing at Gloucester Magistrates Court said: “Children and construction work do not mix. As this incident shows, construction sites can be very dangerous, and children tend to have less experience and less awareness of what could go wrong.”