Engineering firm fined over fatality
What happened?
Whilst undertaking maintenance work the engineer was lying on his back, underneath the raised middle section of a 1,000 tonne capacity press, using a hand-held electric grinder to remove a weld from the base of a large metal piston. When loosened, the internal ram fell through to the ground, crushing the worker resulting in instant death. Graham Engineering Ltd (G) was subsequently investigated by the HSE.
The investigation
The investigation found that no risk assessments had been carried out and there was no safe system of work for the task being undertaken. The 20-tonne middle section of the press was raised using fork lift trucks which exceeded their safe working load, in order to access the underside of the press.
Legal reasoning
G was found guilty of breaching s.2(1) Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £500,000 and ordered to pay costs of £145,487. G’s manufacturing director was acquitted of an associated charge under s.37 Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 , where an offence is committed and attributable to any neglect, consent or connivance of a director. In G’s case the HSE would have considered whether the manufacturing director had control over the matter; personal knowledge of the circumstances; whether he failed to take steps to prevent the incident; whether he had previous warning; and if the responsibility was shared between more than one level of management. On balance it appears that not all the criteria were met for a personal prosecution, hence his acquittal.
Preventing crush injuries
To avoid crush injuries in your workplace follow these steps:
- undertake a risk assessment to establish how workers could be hurt by the task
- implement control measures to prevent crush injuries such as using hoists to take the weight of the machinery, or bracing to protect individuals
- devise a safe system of work that provides detailed, step-by-step instructions to workers on how to keep safe, e.g. access to the place of work or alternatives such as working from the top
- provide training for workers on how work equipment must be used safely, and what the dangers are of misusing it.
Tip. Remember that often, the power will need to be isolated from equipment to stop it moving unexpectedly, so workers will need to make sure it cannot be turned on by any other means.
Had these steps been followed this tragic accident could have easily been avoided as it would have been immediately obvious that lifting a section of the machinery far exceeded the capacity of the fork lift truck.
Tip. A suitable and sufficient risk assessment, if compiled well in advance of the task, would have highlighted the inappropriate lifting equipment and alternatives such as a hoist, block and tackle could have been sourced which were suitable in design to take the weight of the load (see The next step ).
For a selection of lifting equipment to rent, visit https://www.tips-and-advice.co.uk , Download Zone, year 20, issue 18.
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