£1M Fine For Concrete Firm After Youngster Sustains Fatal Head Injuries From Metal Grab

Creagh Concrete Products (CCP), a manufacturer based in Hoveringham, near Southwell, Nottinghamshire, has been fined £1m after a young employee sustained fatal head injuries from a metal grab that was in poor condition and shouldn’t have been in use.   

Stewart Ramsay, 24, from Mansfield, was working at the concrete manufacturer’s Thurgarton Lane site when the fatal incident happened on 15 March 2017.

THE INVESTIGATION

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident and found that Ramsay and colleagues had been attempting to resolve a site problem by using a fork-lift truck and a metal grab to unload Spantherm, a concrete building product, from some trailers. The HSE found that CCP shouldn’t have made either piece of work equipment available for use.

The young worker’s head became trapped in the jaws of the grab after a rope connected to the locking lever snapped.

The investigation determined that even though the rope was tied in a double-knot, the locking mechanism released the jaws of the grab as Ramsay pulled on it, which is what caused the fatal injuries.

TRAINING AND PROCEDURES

The HSE identified a number of failures that resulted in the young worker’s death. 

To start with, CCP did not have a safe system of work in place for using the metal grab. In addition, it had failed to carry out a risk assessment to identify the risks for using the work equipment. 

Importantly, both the grab and the fork-lift truck were in a poor condition and neither should have been in service. The HSE investigation concluded that the concrete manufacturer had failed to ensure that both pieces of work equipment had been maintained in an efficient state, efficient working order or in good repair.

PROSECUTION, SENTENCING AND LEARNINGS

Creagh Concrete Products was sentenced at Nottinghamshire Crown Court on 5 April after admitting that it had failed to ensure its employees carried out lifting operations safely and failing to provide them with training and information.  

CCP pleaded guilty to breaching s 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. In addition to its £1m fine, the firm was also ordered to pay £47,521.08 in costs.

Commenting on the case, HSE inspector Amandip Dhanda, said: ‘Stewart’s death could easily have been prevented if his employer had acted to identify and manage the risks involved, and to put a safe system of work in place.

‘The work equipment being used at the time of the incident should not have been in use, and the employer would have known this had they effectively followed their own health and safety systems.’

Article Source: IOSH Magazine

Image Credits: iStock