Several recent sentencing decisions this year highlight the serious risks arising from failing to have in place suitable measures to protect employees and members of the public from risks arising from transport activities, especially those involving reversing in the workplace and the potentially significant fines that organisations face if convicted.
Cambridgeshire Council fined over guided busway safety failures
On 16 April 2025, Cambridgeshire County Council was fined £6 million for long-standing safety breaches on the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway (CGB). The council pleaded guilty on 12 September 2024 to charges relating to failing to protect the public at crossing points and alongside the busway, resulting in multiple serious incidents, including fatalities and serious injuries.
Investigations by the HSE found that the CGB had inadequate risk assessments, high bus speeds, poor signage, and inadequate lighting at crossings. Despite several early incidents, no comprehensive risk assessments were conducted until after a fatality in 2015. Partial measures, including speed reductions (to 30mph at some crossings) and limited signage, were implemented, but the HSE found that these were inadequate and belated.
The court fined the council £6m split across two health and safety offences after some credit was given for a guilty plea.
The judgment acknowledged the council's improved approach to safety since 2022, but emphasised the seriousness of the council’s prolonged failures, aiming to ensure future compliance while acknowledging the potential financial impact of making improvements on public services.
Companies fined over fatal HGV incidents
Nearly a quarter of all deaths involving workplace transport occur during reversing. The two cases below involved fatal accidents as a result of reversing heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).
In the first case involving a grocery supplier, a worker was fatally crushed between an HGV and a wall during a 2019 delivery in Manchester. The HSE found the company had no safe system for vehicle movements and failed to train staff acting as banksmen. The firm pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and was fined £1million at a hearing in July 2025.
In the second case involving a separate company, a company director had offered to stay behind at the company warehouse to wait for the return of a truck in June 2023. The director spoke to the truck driver and confirmed he would act as banksman to help the vehicle reverse into the warehouse. During the manoeuvre, the driver lost sight of the director and when he got out to check, he found him trapped between the vehicle and some steel storage racks in the warehouse. The director later died in hospital from his injuries.
The HSE found the company had no safe system of work in place in relation to reversing HGVs, lacked risk assessments, and had not trained staff for the task, despite it being routine. The HSE served the company with an improvement notice in relation to the lack of risk assessments. In July 2025, the company pleaded guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £220,000.
Both cases highlight the importance of proper training and risk management with regard to HGV movements.
Reversing road sweeper fatality
In a separate case, an employee of a construction company that specialises in road resurfacing, was killed during a collision with a reversing road-sweeper, operated by a fellow employee.
The HSE investigation found that there was no segregation between people and moving vehicles on site and a banksman was not used when the road sweeper was reversing. The traffic management systems in place at the site were inadequate and unsafe, placing employees and members of the public at risk of serious injury and death.
The company pleaded guilty to breaches of Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at the first opportunity. The company was fined £1million following a sentencing hearing in October 2025.
In addition, the CPS prosecuted the driver of the road sweeper which resulted in a conviction for driving. This resulted in the driver being given a suspended prison sentence.
Reversing skip wagon fatality
A waste management company has been convicted of a health and safety offence after one of its employees was run over by a reversing skip wagon at a waste transfer station.
The employee was making his way to the site office across the weighbridge, when he was struck from behind by a reversing skip wagon. The impact caused him to fall, and he died from crush injuries from the rear wheels.
An investigation by the HSE found that the company failed to effectively review and monitor the control measures in place to protect pedestrians and keep them separate from vehicle movements.
CCTV footage from the week before the incident showed that it was common practice for people on site to bypass segregated pedestrian routes, with some seen climbing over barriers that were intended to keep them safe.
The company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 5(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The company was fined £2.48million at Leeds Magistrates’ Court in October 2025.
Telehandler incident
A West Midlands company was fined £300,000 in June 2025 after a worker suffered serious leg injuries after being struck by a telehandler in March 2023. The incident occurred while the employee was returning an empty cage with a pallet truck in the ‘goods-in’ area and was struck by a telescopic handler driven by another worker.
The HSE found the company failed to manage vehicle movements safely on site, breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974. This included a failure to organise the workplace in such a way as to ensure the safety of its employees, both pedestrians and those using vehicles.
HSE guidance
HSE provides guidance about what workplace transport arrangements can be put in place to prevent incidents. These include:
- The importance of risk assessment considering the risks associated with impact from other vehicles in the area, such as telescopic handlers, forklift trucks and other trucks, such as heavy goods vehicles (HGV), and what separation is required from those vehicles; and
- What separation would be required from other pedestrians and that these controls are implemented.
It is essential that all organisations with workplaces involving vehicles consider the risks arising from their use and implement adequate measures to ensure the safety of those involved in these activities.
The guidance can be found via this link: Workplace transport – HSE.
The HSE also has specific guidance on workplace transport and reversing: Reversing – HSE, and the safe use of vehicles on construction sites which can be accessed via this link: The safe use of vehicles on construction sites.
DAC Beachcroft's Safety Health and Environment Team regularly acts for organisations and individuals facing criminal investigations by the police, HSE and local authorities following serious workplace transport incidents. We also have a specialist team advising organisations on inquiries by the Traffic Commissioner. If you would like more details of how we can support you including training, such as mock trials, mock public inquiries and accident investigation workshops, please contact one of our experts.
