Director sentenced over crane fatality

The managing director of a construction firm that has ceased trading has been told to pay nearly £100,000 in fines and costs after a man was crushed to death when a crane overturned in Liverpool.

Richard Mark Thornton, 46, from Longridge near Preston, died when a 50-tonne crane toppled over while moving a steel column on 29 March 2007. Mr Thornton, known as Mark, was working for Siteweld Construction Ltd to build a new floor on a warehouse at Wavertree Business Park when he was struck by the six-tonne column.

Liverpool Crown Court heard the crane was nearly 18 metres away from the column when the operator tried to lift it – a distance that meant the crane was overloaded. The HSE investigation found the crane had not been properly maintained and its external alarm could not be heard by those working nearby. The override switches were also faulty, including the switch that prevented the crane lifting loads beyond its capacity.

Because Siteweld Construction was a small company and thus its managing director, Benjamin Lee, had direct involvement in the planning of the work and knowledge of what was going on, he was charged with breaching reg.8(1) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 by failing to make sure the work was properly planned and safely carried out.

Lee, 36, of Goosnargh, Preston pleaded guilty in court on 16 December as was fined £80,000 plus £18,478 in costs.

Siteweld Construction Ltd, of Longridge, Preston, pleaded guilty to the same offence, but received only a nominal fine of £50 with no costs, as it has ceased trading.

HSE investigating inspector Sarah Wadham said: “It is tragic that Mr Thornton died because a series of health and safety warnings and procedures were ignored. The crane was simply not capable of lifting the steel column when it was nearly 18 metres away, without it being overloaded.

“If the work had been properly planned, and the crane had been properly maintained, then Mr Thornton would still be alive today. It is vital construction companies learn from this case to prevent similar deaths in the future.”

She concluded: “This case is a good example of a chain of events in which none of the duty-holders did what they were supposed to do.”

The crane-hire firm, Bryn Thomas Crane Hire Ltd, and the crane’s operator, 45-year-old Frederick Scott, were also prosecuted at an earlier hearing. The Wales-based company admitted breaching s3(1) of the HSWA 1974, and regulation 5 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, while Mr Scott, of Flatt Lane in Ellesmere Port, admitted breaching s7(a) of the 1974 Act.

Sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on 11 April 2011, Bryn Thomas Crane Hire was fined £4500 with no costs, on account of it being in administration, and Mr Scott was fined £2500, with no costs, owing to his financial situation.

Bryn Thomas Crane Hire’s assets were bought by a firm that is now trading as Bryn Thomas Cranes – a move that prompted Labour MP for Liverpool Walton Steve Rotheram to table an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons in May, calling on the Government to introduce stronger legislation to prevent companies that “continue to avoid prosecutions and have fines reduced for committing health and safety offences [from] going into administration and then re-establishing their business using a slightly different name with the same premises and the same equipment”.

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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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