Firm fined £130k after machine operator crushed to death at quarry

Leiths (Scotland) Ltd has been fined £130,000 for health and safety failings uncovered after a worker died while working at a quarry in the Highlands in 2017.

Pawel Kocik, 34, was suffered fatal injuries to the chest at the firm’s Kishorn Quarry in Wester Ross.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard the firm operated a mobile crusher. Setting it up required raising folding side panels and placing a cross beam for stability with the help of an excavator.

Fiscal Depute Stella Swan said the crusher was 20 years old and this posed a number of risks.



She said the lack of safety instructions left employees to rely on initiative.

The Aberdeen-based firm pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of employees by failing to suitably assess the risks, failing to provide the necessary information, instruction and training, and failing to provide appropriate equipment.


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