A specialist crane supplier must pay £254,000 in fines and costs after a worker was killed when a steel beam fell from a crane and struck him.
JH Carruthers Ltd had been contracted to install two cranes in the hall of a new incinerator building at a recycling plant in Slough, Berkshire. Colin Dickson was one of a team of five workers who were installing the cranes, when the incident took place on 29 August 2007.
The men were lifting two steel beams to a height of approximately 18 metres, so they could be welded to the underside of the incinerator’s roof beams, which were fixed to the rafters. The beams were lifted vertically by a telehandler and were then moved horizontally by electric hoists, which were fixed to temporary suspension points on the building.
Mr Dickson was stood on a high-level walkway on the outside of the incinerator, when one of the suspension points broke, causing one of the 1.4-tonne beams to fall five metres and land on him. He died at the scene from fatal chest injuries.
The HSE’s investigation found that the lifting process had not been properly planned, or supervised. The project supervisor, John Hamilton, had not created a written method of work and had miscalculated the weight that the bolts securing the suspension points could support.
HSE inspector Karen Morris told SHP that this error might have been picked up if Hamilton had written down the method of work and allowed others to check it. She said: “This tragic incident shows the importance of carrying out a thorough assessment of hazards and properly managing all lifting operations. This was a complex and unusual lift, which went drastically wrong due to a lack of competent planning and a failure to supervise and carry out the task safely. The risks involved in such lifting operations should not be underestimated.
“Health and safety law places stringent requirements on employers in these circumstances, for very good reason. This incident was entirely preventable and it should act as a reminder to others that standards need to be maintained to ensure the safety of workers at all times."
JH Carruthers Ltd appeared at Reading Crown Court on 13 January admitted breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974. It was fined £180,000 and ordered to pay £74,000 in costs.
Hamilton appeared at the same hearing and pleaded guilty to breaching reg.8(1) of LOLER 1998, for failing to properly plan the lift. He was fined £1500, plus £400 in costs.
In mitigation, the firm accepted that employees had not followed its own procedure of creating a written method of work. It said it had placed a lot of faith in Hamilton, who was an experienced worker, to carry out the work safely. But it also admitted that it should have checked if its procedures were being followed. The firm has no previous safety convictions.
Hamilton said he had made an error of judgement and deeply regrets the incident, as Mr Dickson was a close friend.
