Brother speaks out after Welling man killed at work by reversing lorry (From News Shopper)
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Brother speaks out after Welling man Richie Caddock killed on M25 by reversing lorry
3:56pm Monday 26th March 2012 in News By Kelly Smale
Richie Caddock
THE brother of a man killed at work by a reversing lorry says he hopes lessons have been learnt from his death.
Richie Caddock, from Welling, died in April 2008 during work to widen the M25 near Dartford.
The 38-year-old surveyor was talking on a mobile phone and could not hear the approaching truck above the noise of nearby motorway traffic, when he was hit from behind.
He suffered multiple injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
At Maidstone Crown Court on March 20 his employer, Costain Limited from Maidenhead, was fined £250,000 and ordered to pay £45,000 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Mr Caddock's brother Andrew, from Sidcup, said: "I understand from a legal point of view that no individual person can be held accountable, but failings within Costain's health and safety and site management meant Richie was killed.
"They failed to protect him. I find it frustrating to be brutally honest. I know we have all got a job to do but there's a person at the top who should be dotting the I's and crossing the T's but that wasn't done."
The 41-year-old added: "I hope lessons have been learnt and steps have been put in place so a tragedy like this will not happen again.
"The last thing we want is for someone else to die through poor procedures."
Around 500 people attended Mr Caddock's funeral.
Andrew said: "That gives an indication of the type of bloke Richie was. He was a character who was very well known.
"He was always bouncing, he was a live wire. Richie was a bubbly person and easy to get on with and he had lots and lots of friends."
"When you have a person who is such a large character and a large presence, something like that will never ever fade. He will always be with me."
Comments(4)
kittyBexley
says...
2:54pm Wed 28 Mar 12
leefender
says...
1:50am Tue 3 Apr 12
This sounds like a tragic accident and from the details in the article, I can't see how this is the employers fault as Richie was talking on his phone and could not hear the truck reversing. I certainly means no offence to the family but are there any details that news shopper has failed to disclose that would warrant the employer being responsible?
kinyoman
says...
11:27pm Thu 5 Apr 12
To quote thw HSE rep: HSE Inspector Melvyn Stancliffe said: "This was a terrible tragedy that could easily have been avoided had Costain Limited implemented basic safety precautions.
"Mr Caddock may have been distracted on the phone, but the drone of nearby traffic was such that he would have struggled to hear the reversing alarm on the lorry regardless."
So you see the HSE state that this could have been AVOIDED and that the mobile phone would not have made any diference.
This information was published previously in the News Shopper. Just for your info. Hope this explains a few things for you in reference to it being the employers responsibility.
Mole22A says...
11:50am Tue 27 Mar 12