IN COURT

Man Crushed to Death HSE has prosecuted a West Yorkshire company following the death of a worker, who was crushed beneath a one tonne silo of varnish that slid from the tines of a forklift truck and toppled onto him. Wayne Potts, 39, of Dalefield Avenue, Normanton, died from his injuries hours after the incident on 25 March 2011 at Gardiner Colours Ltd’s factory in Ripley Drive. The company, which makes inks, varnishes and coatings, was fined £66,000 after an investigation highlighted several safety failings; crucially the failure by Gardiner’s to spot risks to its workforce. Leeds Crown Court was told on 7 January that a customer of the company had returned part of an order as it couldn’t decant varnish from a silo and had asked for the liquid to be re-sent in 10kg plastic containers. Because of difficulties in changing the order, workers were tasked with decanting the varnish directly from the silo into the containers via a tap at the base of the silo, which had been raised on the forks of the forklift. As Mr Potts worked on the decanting, the silo slid down the forks and fell directly onto him. He died in hospital later the same night. HSE said ‘Gardiner Colours had failed to assess the risks to workers of the decanting operation. As a result, employees were operating without a system of work in place to help them do the job in safety’. The court also heard it had been dangerous for the forklift to be used to balance heavy loads for extended periods – a job it was not designed for. HSE said ‘the failures by Gardiner Colours Ltd to provide a safe working environment had exposed employees to serious risk and led to Mr Potts’ death’. There was evidence that this was not the only incident at Gardiner Colours that had involved a load falling from the forks of a forklift truck; this near-miss ought to have alerted the company to the risk of a silo falling. After the hearing, the investigating HSE inspector Phil Burgess said: “A system that involves a person standing in the immediate vicinity of a suspended load on a forklift truck, which had no driver, is inherently unsafe. The forklift is not capable of holding elevated loads for long periods yet it was a system that had been allowed to develop over time, despite there being readily-available, safe alternatives. Every worker should quite rightly expect that they will return home safely from work every day. Sadly this did not happen for Wayne Potts that day but there is no doubt that his death was avoidable had Gardiner Colours effectively managed the health, safety and welfare of its employees and learned lessons from previous incidents and near-misses.” Construction firm owner in court over unsafe scaffolds The owner of a small construction firm in Portsmouth has been fined after he erected a series of scaffolds in and around the town over several months in late 2013 that were riddled with dangerous faults. It was heard that Graham Pedaltey, trading as Graham’s Scaffolds, was relying on knowledge gained from training he received in 1979. He is now prohibited from erecting scaffolds until up-to-date training is completed. Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court heard how Mr Pedaltey put workers’ lives at risk by putting up scaffolds several metres high for them to work on but with potentially lethal defects that could have seen builders fall from unguarded platforms or through rotting wooden planks. HSE prosecuted Mr Pedaltey on 6 January for safety breaches after investigating a particularly hazardous scaffold that he was responsible for in North End Avenue last year. HSE attended as a result of a complaint made by a member of the public. The court heard that the scaffold, erected on 18 October, had numerous faults, namely: it was not tied to the building so was insecure and more liable to collapse; it lacked baseplates on many uprights, meaning that the scaffold could have sunk into the ground or ‘punched through’ any drains or cavities it was erected on; there were few, if any, guardrails on the lifts – or working platforms – to prevent falls from height; there was no bracing on the middle scaffold on the middle working platform giving rise to serious stability issues; and many of the boards were rotten and damaged and could have broken under workers’ feet, sending them falling to the ground below. Despite remedial work requested by HSE being carried out on the scaffold by Mr Pedaltey, there were still defects. The court was told that Mr Pedaltey had received previous advice from HSE on poor scaffolding twice during the previous month of September 2013. Graham Pedaltey, trading as Graham’s Scaffolds, of Queens Road, Portsmouth, was fined a total of £1,600 and ordered to pay £600 in costs after admitting breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Work at Height Regulations. After the hearing, HSE inspector Peter Snelgrove said: “Mr Pedaltey not only erected numerous unsafe scaffolds, but also relied on his knowledge from training delivered in 1979 – more than 30 years earlier. He has now been prohibited from erecting scaffolds until he has completed further training to acquaint himself with up-to-date safety legislation and scaffolding standards. “His failings created a risk of death or serious personal injury. Scaffolds are temporary structures and their integrity and safety must be ensured to, in turn, safeguard the workers and passers-by.” Three to pay £590,000 after miner’s death at Yorkshire Mining Museum Yorkshire’s National Coal Mining Museum Trust and two companies were ordered to pay a total of £590,000 in fines and costs after a worker was fatally crushed at the museum in 2011 during the second phase of a £2.7 million improvement project. Michael Buckingham, 58, of Grimethorpe, near Barnsley, died after he became trapped between a tunnel construction machine and a dumper loader that he was operating. The fatal incident, on 25 January 2011, happened 138 metres below ground at the museum’s site at Caphouse Colliery in Wakefield. Sheffield Crown Court heard on 16 December that Mr Buckingham, an experienced miner and electrician, was part of a team engaged in constructing 140 metres of new tunnels to revitalise the visitors’ tour and increase the number of exhibition galleries. At the time, the museum trust had hired specialist contractor Amalgamated Construction Ltd (AMCO), of Barnsley, to build the tunnels. AMCO, which employed Mr Buckingham, was using the two machines, both supplied by Metal Innovations Ltd (MIL), of Cowbridge in Wales. Mr Buckingham sustained fatal crush injuries when he became trapped between the tunnel construction machine and the forward-tipping dumper – a mineral carrying machine – that he had been operating. The incident was investigated by HSE’s specialist mining division, which served a prohibition notice on equipment supplier Metal Innovations after inspectors found the dumper was unsafe. Counsel for HSE, Rex Tedd QC, told the court that HSE identified that the dumper: did not have a readily-accessible emergency stop function; did not meet essential safety requirements relating to the design and supply of machinery; and posed a clearly foreseeable risk that it would entrap the operator. He said equipment supplier MIL was responsible for failing to supply equipment that met the essential health and safety requirements required of all new machinery. Instead, it had supplied a machine that was patently dangerous in several ways. The contractor, AMCO, had failed to carry out a suitable risk assessment of the machine or the work activities, including the interactions of the workers and equipment; and had put an unsafe machine to work, exposing staff to substantial risk. The court was told that the Museum Trust’s safety breach centred on it’s failing to ensure that the mine was run in accordance with all relevant safety regulations. Unlike those of the other two defendants, the breach had not played a causative role in the loss of Mr Buckingham’s life. Amalgamated Construction Ltd, of Whaley Road, Barugh Green, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, was fined a total of £110,000 with £245,000 to pay in costs after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act plus a breach of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations. Metal Innovations Ltd, of Unit 54 Business Park, Llandow, Cowbridge, Wales, was fined £80,000 with £110,000 in costs after admitting a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act in connection with the supply of machinery. Both companies were guilty of breaches that were clearly connected to the loss of Mr Buckingham’s life. The museum trust was fined £10,000 with £35,000 in costs to pay after admitting breaching the Management and Administration of Safety and Health at Mines Regulations 1993. The three defendants had earlier entered guilty pleas to the offences. HSE principal inspector for mines Paul Bradley said: “There were several factors that came into play that led to the very tragic death of a much-loved and respected family man. It was an incident that could have been prevented but all three parties had a role to play in how it went badly wrong. However, the Trust’s failure did not play a direct role in the tragic loss of life, unlike the combination of failures of the other two defendants. “It was clearly foreseeable that entrapment and crushing could result from the use of this mobile machinery, given how the work was being carried out. This meant Mr Buckingham had to walk backwards on occasions and operate close to other equipment within the confines of an underground roadway. Low-cost solutions could have addressed these hazards and such solutions were readily available. “The MIL-supplied forward tipping dumper did not conform to design standards or safety requirements, and the dumper’s canopy both reduced the potential for escape from the incident and caused severe injuries to Mr Buckingham. Other equipment supplied or used by AMCO and Metal Innovations had integral emergency stop facilities within easy reach. “It was also clear from the investigation that Mr Buckingham had not benefited from suitable and sufficient training in the use of the dumper. “Machines and equipment must be supplied free from defects and accord with safety provisions. They must be assessed in the work environment and a system of work devised for their safe use. Site manager and safety consultant jailed after labourer’sdeath A company co-owner and a health and safety advisor have been jailed following the death of a labourer in Fulham in December 2010. Thirty-seven-year-old Anghel Milosavlevici was crushed to death while working on a basement excavation in Ellerby Street, Fulham. The excavations were not properly supported and collapsed, crushing and trapping Mr Milosavlevici. The emergency services were called but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Southwark Crown Court heard on 4 December how Mr Conrad Sidebottom of Siday Construction Ltd who was also the site manager, was aware of the dangerous state of the excavations, but took no steps to ensure it was safe. It was also heard that Mr Richard Golding, a qualified health and safety advisor employed by AllDay Safety Services Ltd, was also aware of the risks as he was responsible for drafting the method of work statement. This document was found to be inadequate and was not followed, despite him having the authority to stop dangerous works, which he failed to do. The HSE said that: the method statement included information that was copied and pasted from a document relating to a previous basement job undertaken by SIDAY; the method statement was prepared without reference to any temporary works engineer drawings or schemes in relation to the propping and shoring temporary works that would be needed on site. This was to be added by SIDAY at a later date according to the method statement – but this did not happen. The method statement was therefore inadequate; the method of work was changed when on site, meaning that people were digging with buckets and spades, making the need for adequate propping and shoring even more important; Mr Golding visited the site monthly. His last visit to the site was nine days before the incident on 23 November 2010. He maintained in interview and in court that he was unaware of any excavations apart from a shallow trial pit at the front of the building, despite the main contractor’s (PRODG Ltd) photos showing a number of deep unshored and unpropped excavations; and Mr Golding did not take action even though the method statement was not being followed and he did not question the temporary works. On sentencing the Judge said that Mr Golding’s defence (in relation to seeing no excavations on site) was “ludicrous” and that his failure to do anything when on site showed a level of disregard to the workforce that was “staggering”. Co-owner of Siday Construction Ltd, Conrad Sidebottom, 46, of Park Road, Hertford, was found guilty of manslaughter on 2 December and was sentenced to three years and three months in jail. Richard Golding, 43, of Hadleigh, Benfleet, Essex was found guilty of exposing another to a risk of health and safety and was jailed for nine months. Detective Chief Inspector Tim Duffield, Homicide and Major Crime Command, who worked closely with HSE, headed the investigation. DCI Duffield said: “There was overwhelming evidence that Sidebottom and Golding’s failure to carry out their respective roles directly resulted in the death of Anghel Milosavlevici. In this case the danger of collapse was not only foreseeable, it had been specifically identified by Golding in his risk assessments.” Mr Milosavlevici’s sister Cristina and his fiancée Claudia said in a statement: “He was the most gentle, kind-hearted and generous man you could ever hope to meet. “He worked for Conrad Sidebottom for more than two years before he was killed, but we were shocked to hear evidence at the trial about how dangerous the site had become, and how little concern Mr Sidebottom showed for the safety of everyone involved in the excavation works. “We hope today’s verdict makes other construction company directors take stock of their own working practices, and ensure that they are doing everything possible to keep their workers safe.”

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