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Safety and Health Practitioner (SHP) is first for independent health and safety news.
May 22, 2013

BAE Systems fined £250,000 for crush death

Global defence company BAE Systems has been ordered to pay almost £350,000 in fines and costs after a worker was crushed to death inside a metal press.

Hull Crown Court heard maintenance engineer Gary Whiting was working as part of a four-man team servicing a large metal press at BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd’s plant in Brough, when the incident took place on 10 November 2008.

The press was the size of a two-bedroom house and the men were working in pairs at opposing ends of the machine. The court was told neither pair could properly see the other due to the casing of the machine obstructing their view.

While Mr Whiting and his colleague were working with one of the two trays that fed into either end of the press, the other team was testing the tray bed and press frame at the other side.

Mr Whiting entered the machine to remove a piece of equipment and at the same moment one of his colleagues at the far end of the press started the full test cycle of the press frame. This caused the 45-square-metre frame to descend and trap Mr Whiting against some rails. He died in hospital owing to crush injuries.

The HSE investigated the incident and found the company had failed to carry out a suitable risk assessment for the work and there was a lack of control measures to prevent workers accessing the dangerous parts of the machine during testing.

On 13 November 2008, the firm was issued a Prohibition Notice requiring the machine to be taken out of service until a safe system of work had been created.

HSE inspector Mark Welsh told SHP an interlock system should have been created, which would isolate the machine until all four workers each used a key to run the test cycle. He said: “The dangers of maintenance work on these types of machines are well known, yet BAE Systems failed to identify those risks and its serious failings led to this tragedy.

“The guarding was inadequate and there were no key safety systems, no light guards, or interlocks on the doors of the machine; nothing that would have either prevented entry to dangerous parts, or stopped the machine if entry was made. In addition, there were no instructions, either written or verbal, given by BAE to workers about how to carry out the testing process safely.”

BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd appeared in court on 21 May and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974. It was fined £250,000 and ordered to pay £97,153 in costs.

In mitigation, the firm said it has subsequently installed four internal doors on the machine, which require the keys for each door to be placed in the operating part of the machine to enable the test cycle to begin.

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