Firm is hit with £18k bill after worker's fall into raw sewage

Carl Harris, aged 34, was emptying the underground tank at a housing development in Halesowen while working for the Walsall-based Tardis Environmental Ltd. He had lifted a manhole cover at the site off Clancy Lane and fed a pump between two 3ft wide mesh lids – but it became blocked, so he removed one of the lids and stood over the exposed drop.

While he was shaking the pipe, which he had lodged between his legs, Mr Harris, from Walsall, lost his footing and fell feet first into the tank, ingesting some of the sewage and suffering bruises to his arms, Dudley Magistrates Court was told.

District Judge Graham Wilkinson said the consequences could have been "much worse" if he had tumbled head first on August 26 last year.

Training given to Mr Harris when he started as a driver five years earlier was focussed on emptying tanks beneath temporary toilets rather than deeper vessels, said Health & Safety Executive investigator Mr Anthony Woodward.

Measures had not been taken to protect workers in these situations from falling, he said, and the company was responsible for monitoring its staff.

The company, which has bases across the country and employs more than 60 staff, has since retrained them. They are now required to wear a harness when working at heights.

Miss Joanne Brooke, defending, said managers had not intended to put Mr Harris at risk.

The firm, which pleaded guilty to breaching a general duty to an employee, was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £3,000 costs.

District Judge Wilkinson told directors Chris and Robin Boyden: "You have gone above and beyond in addressing the HSE's concerns."