Waste Company Fined Over Worker's Death

A Co Antrim waste management company has been fined £60,000 after an employee died at their landfill site in Mallusk - tragically under tonnes of rubbish.

BIFFA Waste Services Ltd. was fined at Belfast's Laganside Courts on Wednesday morning, after 23-year-old supervisor David Layland was killed in August 2008.

A police search uncovered the Newtownabbey man's body at the Co Antrim site the day after he went missing at work.

BIFFA was charged with failing to ensure health and safety of employees, to which the company pleaded guilty.

There was a "systemic failure at the heart of their system," Judge Burgess told the court.

However it was accepted that because Mr Layland's body was found 70 metres from where he was last seen, and after some time had passed, it was "extremely difficult, if not impossible" to determine exactly when and how he died.

The case followed an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) into the circumstances surrounding the death and while it was indeed "not possible to establish how or when Mr Layland died", HSENI's investigation revealed a number of unsafe practices that had been allowed to go on around the time of his last sighting.

These included unsafe arrangements for the separation of pedestrians and vehicles at the site.

After the hearing Kevin Campbell, HSENI's an investigating inspector said: "Proper arrangements must always be in place where large vehicles operate in the vicinity of pedestrians.

"Where vehicles and pedestrians share a traffic route or work area, there must be strictly controlled arrangements to ensure adequate separation at all times.

"This applies to all workplaces and is vital in circumstances where large vehicles operate," he said.

Newtownabbey Alliance Councillor Tom Campbell has said that the death should act as a warning to other employers on health and safety issues.

Cllr Tom Campbell said: "This incident was a real tragedy that must never be forgotten. This case must evoke terrible memories for the family and friends of Mr Layland, who have suffered so much, and my thoughts are with them at this extremely difficult time.

"This case should act as warning to other employers for the need to take the health and safety of their employees as their paramount consideration.

"The judge stated that the dangers on the landfill site were both obvious and recognised. He also found that there was a substantial failure regarding BIFFA's health and safety measures. This case should warn employers of need to place health and safety measures at the top of their agenda."

Both of David's parents, Derek Layland and Sharon Crawford, went on TV afterwards and said they were still trying to come to terms with the "void and nightmare" their son's death had left in their lives and were dismissive of the "platitudes" made by the company in court, and accused Biffa of caring nothing for their family's' loss.

"I am absolutely shocked at the company's attitude after the fight they have put up since David's death which they appeared they did not want to mention, never mind his name," his mother Sharon told UTV.

"They have fought this the whole time and were disrespectful in the way they have treated the family and tried to hold out against the case."

However, Sharon said she was "delighted" at the eventual ruling of the court and the acknowledgement that "David's was a needless and senseless death".

David's father, Derek echoed her views: "I am disgusted," said Derek, who accused the company of "treating David and this family with contempt".

(BMcC/GK)