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Company fined over employee road death

A company has been fined £30,000 for breaching health and safety rules after an employee died after falling asleep at the wheel following three consecutive 20-hour shifts at the farm where he worked.

The company was negligent in failing to stop Mark Fiebig working a total of 76 hours in only four days, despite knowing about the excessive shift schedule, the Health and Safety Executive said.

Mr Fiebig died after falling asleep, allowing his car to drift on to the other side of the A10 in Cambridgeshire, directly into the path of an oncoming lorry.

The ruling comes as a warning to all companies, particularly fleet-owning businesses, where employees are required to be on the road for long periods of time.

Company car drivers and other commercial road users are known to be particularly at risk, with the many hours that they spend on the road increasing their risk of having an accident or falling asleep at the wheel.

At best, this could result in an expensive fleet insurance claim, and at worst another road fatality.