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March 27, 2012

Shipbuilding firm fined for forklift fatality

A shipbuilding company, which built the HMS Ark Royal, has been fined £120,000 following the death of a welder at its plant in Merseyside.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that this incident took place on 18 August 2010 at Cammell Laird Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders Ltd’s plant in Birkenhead.

Robert Dunroe, 62, was using a forklift truck to transport heavy welding equipment across the plant, despite not being trained to use the vehicle. While driving the truck he was crushed between the vehicle and a lifting beam used on a crane. Another employee ran over to the vehicle and reversed it, releasing Mr Dunroe, but he died from his injuries four days later. SHP is currently awaiting more detail from the HSE about how the incident took place.

The HSE’s investigation learned that keys were routinely left in the ignition of forklifts, and Mr Dunroe had driven the vehicles on several other occasions. HSE inspector Richard Clarke explained that the company had failed to put procedures in place to ensure only authorised employees were able to drive the trucks.

He said: “A company the size of Cammell Laird should have known better than to have allowed keys to be routinely left in forklift trucks, making driving a truck the easy option for employees wanting to transport heavy equipment.

“Mr Dunroe may well have thought he was doing his employer a favour by moving the welding equipment as quickly as possible, but instead he has ended up losing his life.”

Cammell Laird appeared in court on 22 March and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974. In addition to the fine, the firm was ordered to pay £12,294 in costs.

Following the hearing, a spokesman for the firm said: “Cammell Laird wishes to express its deepest regret that this tragic incident took place and we reiterate our apologies to Mr Dunroe’s family and friends.

“We are committed to ensuring the safety of our workforce. We have had a commendable safety record until this accident. We have subsequently reviewed our forklift truck procedures to prevent similar incidents. €

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Alaric
Alaric
12 years ago

An experienced mature worker broke the company rules and without an instruction to do so made use of the forklift truck. He no doubt, at the age of 62, had been aware that forklift trucks could be dangerous. He effectively caused his own death yet Cammell Laird were penalised to the amount of £132K.

My reaction would be to introduce a company policy which treats any unauthorised use of equipment as gross misconduct with immediate summary dismissal.

Bob
Bob
12 years ago

Did they owe the employee a duty of care? YES.
Hence the conviction under section 2.

Do people operate plant and equipment without consent? YES more common than not.
Keys should never be lft in mobile plant – basic risk assessment control.

The fact that this was not the first time keys were left unattended is a probable corporate failure.

Tollerence of a knowable risk is not acceptable under a duty of care.

The charges could have been more severe?

Prpr
Prpr
12 years ago

Another fork-lift fatality! They should watch ‘Napo in… Safe moves’ – http://www.napofilm.net