Every year, families across Great Britain face the devastating loss of a loved one killed by a reversing vehicle at work. These are not just statistics. They are family members, friends and colleagues whose lives were cut short by entirely preventable accidents.

The stark reality is that being struck by a moving vehicle accounts for 16% of all fatal work-related injuries, claiming an average of 21 lives annually over the past 5 years, making it one of the leading causes of work-related fatalities in Great Britain.

Looking at these incidents we see that many feature the same pattern – reversing vehicles.

Recent months have brought this issue into sharp focus, with fines reaching £2.5 million as case after case reveals the same preventable failures.

“What strikes me most about these cases is not the complexity of the failures, but their simplicity,” says John Rowe, Deputy Director for Technical Support and Engagement at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). “Time and again, we see deaths that could have been prevented by basic measures that cost far less than the fines that are ultimately imposed.”

The pattern is clear across multiple industries including agriculture (27% of vehicle deaths), construction, and transportation and storage (17% each). But the solutions are equally clear, if employers are willing to implement them properly.

Why these incidents happen

Workplace transport fatalities follow predictable patterns. Workers are struck by reversing vehicles in yards where pedestrians and vehicles share space. Drivers cannot see properly because reversing aids are broken or missing. Sites lack traffic management. There are no designated safe routes for people on foot.

These incidents occur when safety is treated as optional. Delivery schedules take priority over having a banksman present. Reversing cameras stay broken because fixing them seems expensive. Pedestrian walkways are never created because “we’ve always managed without them.” Or they are created but their use is not enforced – potentially creating an even more dangerous situation on site.

Preventing vehicle-related deaths means making safety fundamental to how sites operate. This must happen before any vehicle moves. It requires understanding risks and committing to control them properly.

How to prevent these incidents

Safe site design separates people from vehicles wherever possible. This means creating dedicated walkways with physical barriers, using one-way traffic systems to reduce reversing, and designating loading areas away from where people work. Sites need proper lighting so drivers can see clearly throughout the day. Pedestrian routes must be visible and obvious to everyone.

Vehicles must be maintained and fit for purpose. Reversing aids are essential safety equipment, not extras. CCTV systems, audible alarms and sensors help drivers detect hazards they cannot see directly. These systems only protect workers when they are working properly. Regular vehicle checks must be standard practice. Any vehicle with defects must be taken out of service until repairs are completed.

People remain central to safe operations. Sites need drivers who understand the specific risks they face, know when to request a banksman, and feel able to stop work if conditions become unsafe. This applies to regular staff, visiting drivers and contractors who may not be familiar with the site. Training must go beyond basic vehicle operation to cover the realities of working safely in each specific environment.

It is not enough to just implement the necessary precautions, it is just as important to ensure that employees, and drivers, maintain standards or follow safe working practices.  Managers and supervisors should routinely challenge and investigate unsafe behaviours they come across.

Moving forward

The £1 million and £2.5 million fines making headlines represent more than financial penalties. They mark families destroyed by entirely preventable failures. Agriculture, forestry and fishing loses six workers annually to vehicle strikes, construction, and transportation and storage each lose four, but every sector sees deaths that proper management could eliminate.

Preventing workplace transport deaths requires organisations to implement proven control measures consistently. This means conducting thorough risk assessments, maintaining equipment rigorously, and empowering workers to identify hazards before incidents occur.

You can find comprehensive guidance on workplace transport on our website.

Notes to editors

• The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We are dedicated to protecting people and places, and helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.

• Recent prosecutions:
  • Company fined after much loved family man killed by reversing HGV – HSE Media Centre
  • Biffa fined almost £2.5 million after worker crushed by skip wagon – HSE Media Centre
  • Grocery wholesaler fined £1 million after worker killed by reversing HGV – HSE Media Centre
  • Textile company fined after director killed by reversing HGV – HSE Media Centre

• Several failings identified during investigation.
• Man described as ‘my everything’ by his daughter.
• HSE guidance is available.

A manufacturing company has been fined £240,000 after a grandfather was killed by a reversing HGV in Birmingham.

David Saint – described as ‘my everything’ by his daughter – worked as an engineering manager at Northwood Consumer Limited, at its site in Electra Park, Electric Avenue.

The 61-year-old, from Spalding in Lincolnshire, was walking across the service road on the shared industrial estate on 19 October 2023, when the reversing HGV collided with him.

Mr Saint leaves behind his wife, Cassandra, his children Samantha and Adam, his grandchildren, Jake and Ava, as well as his father, Terry, and siblings, Paul, Kim and Michael.

His daughter, Samantha, said: “He was my everything, there was nothing he wasn’t involved in.

“My life now consists of ‘what would dad do?’

“I think of him and miss him every day.”

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Northwood Consumer Limited failed to:

• Undertake a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks associated with workplace transport.
• Address the movement of HGVs in its site rules;
• Eliminate, as far as possible, the need for HGVs to reverse;
• Provide any aids or assistance to HGVs that had to be reversed;
• Display any signage to warn of the hazards arising from the movement of HGVs; and
• Control when HGVs would access the site.

HSE guidance provides advice for employers on what they need to do to comply with the law and reduce risk. The guide is also useful for managers, supervisors, employees and their safety representatives, as well as contractors, vehicle operators and other organisations concerned with workplace transport safety.

Mr Saint’s son Adam added: “I just miss my dad being there.

“I miss the conversations that we used to have and his guidance.

“I just miss everything about him.”

Northwood Consumer Limited of  Northwood House, Stafford Park 10, Telford, pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £240,000 and ordered to pay £6,917 in costs at Birmingham Magistrates Court on 6 October 2025.

Lead HSE inspector Charlie Rowe said: “This is a tragic and shocking case that has devastated Mr Saint’s family, friends and loved ones.

“Pedestrians being struck by moving vehicles remains a leading cause of workplace fatalities in Great Britain.

“Many of these incidents involve the reversal of vehicles with poor visibility, such as HGVs.

“The HSE will continue to take appropriate enforcement action where employers fail to implement reasonably practicable measures to keep people safe.

“My thoughts remain with all of David’s family and friends.”

This prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Edward Parton and supported by senior paralegal manager Sarah Thomas.

Further information:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We are dedicated to protecting people and places, and helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.
2. More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
3. Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.
4. Relevant guidance can be found at Workplace transport – HSE.
5. HSE does not pass sentences, set guidelines or collect any fines imposed. Relevant sentencing guidelines must be followed unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so.  The sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences can be found here.

A London-based grocery supplier has been fined £1 million after a worker was killed by a reversing HGV during a delivery in Manchester.

Lee Warburton, 53, a father of three from Stockport, was employed by Bestway Northern Limited, a wholesale supplier serving independent supermarkets across Britain, when the incident occurred.

On 19 February 2019, Mr Warburton and a colleague were making a delivery to a store in central Manchester. He was acting as a banksman, directing his colleague who was reversing the HGV. While attempting to guide the vehicle into the unloading area, Mr Warburton became trapped between the vehicle and a wall. He sustained fatal crush injuries.

Lee Warburton’s partner, Hayley Tomlinson, described the day he died as the worst of her life. “To be taken in such a cruel manner made it even harder,” she said. “Knowing the pain and fear Lee must have gone through was unbearable. But nothing compares to the moment I had to tell our children their daddy was never coming home.”

She spoke of the long-term impact on their daughters, who were just nine and ten at the time. Both have suffered serious mental health challenges, including depression, bullying and social isolation. “It broke my children’s spirits; they lost the sparkle in their eyes,” she said. “Lee was their hero.”

“My children will miss out on all the milestones Lee should have been here for – walking them down the aisle, meeting their first child. They miss the cuddles, the love he showed them, the days out. This has changed our lives forever.”

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Bestway Northern Limited, of Abbey Road, Park Royal, London, had failed to implement a safe system of work for vehicle movements. The company also failed to adequately assess the risks involved in the task or provide sufficient training for employees acting as banksmen.

HSE provides free guidance to employers at hse.gov.uk including specific guidance on workplace transport and reversing – Reversing – HSE.

Bestway Northern Limited pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £1 million and ordered to pay full prosecution costs of £11,950.07 at a hearing at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Friday 18 July 2025.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Jane Carroll said:

“The company had failed to implement a safe system of work for its delivery and unloading activities, thereby exposing employees and others to the risk of being struck or caught by workplace vehicles.

“Nearly a quarter of all deaths involving workplace transport occur during reversing, most of which can be avoided by taking simple precautions.

“All work settings involving vehicles need to consider the risks arising from their use and implement adequate measures to ensure the safety of those involved in these activities.”

The prosecution was supported by HSE enforcement lawyer Chloe Ward and paralegal officer Rebecca Whithell.

Further information:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise. hse.gov.uk
2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: legislation.gov.uk
3. HSE news releases are available at: hse.gov.uk
4. Guidance for working safely with vehicles can be found at: Workplace transport – HSE

• Director’s family left with ‘mixed emotions’.
• No risk assessment or safe system of work in place at time.
• HSE guidance on safe use of transport is available

A textile manufacturer has been fined £220,000 after one of its directors was killed by a reversing HGV in Rochdale.

Daniel Ames was a director of The British Millerain Company Limited and had offered to stay behind at the company warehouse to wait for the return of the vehicle on 22 June 2023.

The truck arrived at around 5.30pm. Mr Ames spoke to the driver and confirmed he would act as banksman to help the vehicle reverse into the warehouse.

During the manoeuvre, the driver lost sight of Mr Ames and when he got out to check, he found him trapped between the vehicle and some steel storage racks in the warehouse. The driver called paramedics, but Mr Ames died in hospital from his injuries.

Speaking after the company was fined, Mr Ames’ family said the outcome left them with ‘mixed emotions’.

“Daniel went to work and never came home again and we have a massive hole in our lives that will never be filled,” they said in a statement.

“We are glad the company have admitted being responsible for his death and been handed a fine.

“But we remain devastated that we no longer have Daniel in our lives. Today we have still lost a much-loved dad, husband, uncle, son and brother, and we are devastated that his life ended in this way.

“He got on well with all his colleagues at work and had a great career. He was a respected professional who loved his job and was well known in the industry and was excited for his future. But that was taken away from us all in an instant.

“He was a real family man with a great sense of humour who was always making people smile and laugh and he enjoyed life to the full. We all miss him so much.”

The incident was reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who carried out an investigation into what happened. That identified a number of failings exposing employees to various risks, including having no safe system in place for reversing HGVs. Employees confirmed they had been doing the task for several years but had never received any training. This included one employee who said he had on occasion reversed HGVs into the warehouse with someone else acting as banksman – despite neither being trained to do so.

The HSE investigation also found the company had no risk assessment in place in relation to this work, with the regulator serving it with an improvement notice. Following the incident the company carried out a risk assessment that resulted in a safe system of work being implemented, which meant vehicles were no longer reversed using a banksman. Relevant guidance can be found here: Workplace transport – HSE.

The British Millerain Company Limited, of Unit 1 Park Mill, Buckley Road, Rochdale, pleaded guilty to breaching section 33(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £220,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,634 at Manchester Magistrates Court on 10 July 2025.

HSE inspector Jane Carroll said: “This is a tragic case.

“Daniel was clearly popular and respected, but his leadership and dedication to his colleagues was not properly protected by the defendant.

“A safe system of work was not in place.

“We will always take action against those who fail to protect people in work.”

This prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Gemma Zakrzewski and paralegal officer Stephen Grabe.

Further information:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We are dedicated to protecting people and places, and helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.
2. More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
3. Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.
4. Relevant guidance can be found here Workplace transport – HSE.
5. HSE does not pass sentences, set guidelines or collect any fines imposed. Relevant sentencing guidelines must be followed unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so.  The sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences can be found here.