Company fined millions after man

A PARCEL company has been fined millions of pounds after a man died when a stack of tyres fell through his office roof in Coventry.

Robert Baynham was crushed to death in the tragic incident at DHL Services Ltd on Coventry’s Prologis business park in the early hours of February 2, 2016.

Three others were also injured, one seriously.

At a hearing at Warwick Crown Court, the jury heard tyres were stacked too high and too close to the internal office.

The business admitted failing to carry out a risk assessment and failing to ensure the safety of employees and was fined £2.6 million as a result.

The court heard how a tall stack of metal containers known as stillages containing car and truck tyres fell through the internal office roof at the DHL tyre warehouse in Coventry.

Inside the office were four members of staff.

One was fatally injured, one suffered serious injuries and two other people suffered minor injuries.

The tyre warehouse stores one brand of tyres which are then picked for commercial customer orders, loaded onto HGVs and distributed throughout the country.

The tyres range in size from small car tyres, right up to extra-large agricultural tyres.

The investigation ahead of the court case took more than three years and highlighted some key concerns and failings by the company.

In short, the company fundamentally and systematically failed to manage health and safety at the site and the accident was the product of a multi-layered systemic failure of DHL management.

The court was told that the high volume of tyres being stored in the area close to the porta cabin office, and the risk of fork lift truck forks colliding with stillage stacks, should have featured in risk assessments.

The jury also heard: Upon taking over the site from another com