Boss crushed to death in horror work accident after offering to help colleague

The family of a man who was tragically knocked down and killed at work by a reversing HGV is suing his firm.

David Ames was a director at Rochdale-based British Millerain, and had volunteered to stay behind on the night he died to wait for a HGV to return, the Health and Safety Executive said.

He offered to act as a ‘banksman’ to help the driver reverse safely into the warehouse. But the HSE said that during the manoeuvre, the driver lost sight of Mr Ames.

When he got out of the cab to check, he found him trapped between the HGV and a row of steel storage racking. Paramedics were called, but he was pronounced dead later in hospital.

The tragedy happened at around 5.30pm on June 22, 2023 and following a prosecution, where the company was fined £220,000, his family are now making a civil negligence compensation claim.

The incident was reported to the HSE, which went on to carry out an investigation that identified ‘a number of failings exposing employees to various risks, including having no safe system in place for reversing HGVs’, it said in a statement.

The British Millerain Company Ltd, based on Buckley Road, Rochdale, pleaded guilty to breaching a section of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The firm was fined also ordered to pay costs of £5,634 at Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, July 10.

Industrial accident specialist partner Jon Andrews, of Express Solicitors, said the firm was representing the family in a civil negligence compensation claim against his former company.

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Mr Andrews said: “This was a senseless and tragic accident that should never have happened and was entirely preventable. Workplaces need to make sure they look after their employees and protect them from harm at all times.

“We are now taking action against his former company on behalf of the family as Daniel was the main breadwinner and we will be helping to secure their financial future.”

In a statement issued by the law firm, Mr Ames family said: “He got on well with all his colleagues at work and had a great career. He was a respected professional who loved his job, was well known in the industry and was excited for his future. But that was taken away from us all in an instant.