£250,000 fine after worker crushed at London Luton Airport

The exterior of London Luton Airport (Wikipedia commons)

A passenger air transport firm has been fined after an employee suffered brain damage when she was crushed by hangar doors in Bedfordshire.

St Albans Crown Court was told how an employee of Signature Flight Support London Luton Ltd was injured while she was opening the doors of Hangar 219 at London Luton Airport to move aircraft inside on the day of the incident (28 April 2015).

On moving one of the doors the employee became trapped causing crushing injuries, which resulted in severe brain damage.

The Health & Safety Executive’s investigation found that the company failed to conduct adequate planning or provide adequate training and written instructions.

£250k fine

Signature Flight Support London Luton Ltd of Hangar 63, Percival Way, London Luton Airport, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. It was fined £250,000 and ordered to pay costs of £19,483.50.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Andrew McGill said: “The injured person’s family have been left devastated after this incident. Her husband gave up work to care for her daily and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Employers must provide suitable systems of work, training, information and supervision to ensure safety. If a safe system of work had been in place prior to this incident, it could have prevented the life-changing injuries sustained by the employee.”

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In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, we hear from Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomics Consultant at HSE’s Science and Research Centre, about the different approaches to managing the risks associated with Musculoskeletal disorders.

Matt, an ergonomics and human factors expert, shares his thoughts on why MSDs are important, the various prevalent rates across the UK, what you can do within your own organisation and the Risk Management process surrounding MSD’s.

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