A 51-year-old electrician from Didsbury, Greater Manchester was crushed to death by an overhead crane at a Preston factory, a court has heard.
Liam O’Neill had been trying to replace a control cable when the incident happened at Assystem UK Ltd, a major engineering firm, in Bamber Bridge, on 12 March 2011.
The company, part of the international Assystem group, was prosecuted by the HSE on 26 November after an investigation found that Mr O’Neill had been able to work on a platform in the path of the overhead crane without the power to the crane first being switched off.
Preston Crown Court heard that the platform, which was around four metres above the ground, had been installed for a specific project in September 2000. End stops had previously been fitted to the rails used by the overhead crane that stopped the crane reaching the platform, but these had later been removed.
The platform had remained at the factory but there was no barrier at the bottom of the access ladder to prevent workers climbing up it while the crane was in use.
On the day of the incident, Mr O’Neill had been trying to replace a cable, which hangs down from the crane to a handheld control, after it had developed an intermittent fault.
The crane (right) had been moved over the platform so Mr O’Neill could reach the top of the cable where it connects to a junction box on the crane. As he climbed onto the platform, the crane moved and he was crushed between the guard rails around the top of the ladder and the crane itself.
On investigation, the HSE discovered that the crane cleared the top of the guard rails around the ladder and platform by just 8.5cm. Despite this, the company had not identified the risk of workers being crushed by the crane if they used the platform so no action had been taken to stop this from happening.
Assystem UK Ltd, of Club Street in Bamber Bridge, was fined £160,000 and ordered to pay £52,500 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Following the hearing, HSE Inspector Stuart Kitchingman, spoke of the simple steps that should have been taken to avoid such an incident: “Liam tragically lost his life because his employer didn’t think about the potential consequences of having a working platform in the path of an overhead crane.
“Assystem should never have allowed the end stops to be removed from the crane’s rails when it was still possible for workers to climb up the ladder onto the platform.
“It would have been simple to put a system in place to make sure power to the crane was switched off before anyone climbed onto the platform, or to put up a barrier to prevent access to the platform.”
Mr O’Neill’s widow, Deborah, added: “My husband and I were married in 1984. We had our only child, Sophie, in 1989 and were a small but very happy family. When Liam had the accident at Assystem our whole world was blown apart.
“When he died a week later, Sophie and I were completely devastated. Sophie, at the young age of 21, had lost her father with whom she had a close and loving relationship. I had lost the man that I met at the age of 19 and was planning to spend the rest of my life with.
“Our lives, and those of the wider family, have been completely changed. We have had to cope with emotional trauma, grief and financial difficulties, and our lives will never be the same.
“We hope accidents like this can be prevented in the future so that other families don’t have to suffer as we have.”
In a statement, Assystem UK Ltd said: “Mr O’Neill was a valued member of our engineering staff and our thoughts and condolences remain with [his] family.
“We have fully supported the HSE throughout their investigation and have implemented all recommendations made.
“We continue to be committed to ensuring a safe working environment for all our staff and have further enhanced our processes following this tragic accident.”
Speaking to SHP, Stuart Kitchingman advised that other companies look very carefully at their systems of workin the areas where overhead cranes are operating. In particular, ensuring that robot systems are in place for electrical isolation of cranes where work is being carried out on mobile elevating platforms.
In mitigation, the company cooperated fully with the investigation, had no previous convictions, implemented all recommendations made by the HSE, and secured third party certification to BS OHSAS 18001 for the Preston Site.
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A 51-year-old electrician from Didsbury, Greater Manchester was crushed to death by an overhead crane at a Preston factory, a court has heard. 
Preston Crown Court heard that the platform, which was around four metres above the ground, had been installed for a specific project in September 2000. End stops had previously been fitted to the rails used by the overhead crane that stopped the crane reaching the platform, but these had later been removed.
