Prosecutions

Two men were helping to push a trolley carrying more than two tonnes of steel when it collapsed on them. Both workers were seriously injured and one later died in hospital.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the two firms following an investigation into the cause of the incident on 17 December 2008.

Preston Crown Court heard today that five workers had been pushing the trolley into a large industrial oven, known as an autoclave, when one of the pedestrian walkway panels under it collapsed.

One worker suffered severe injuries and is still undergoing treatment. He broke both his legs, his right foot and ankle, and needed skin grafts to his legs.

The second worker died in hospital the following morning as a result of his injuries.

The HSE investigation found that the trolley, which weighed nearly 2.8 tonnes, was not wide enough to fit on both the load-bearing rails inside the autoclave. Instead the wheels on the right-hand side of the trolley were rolled along the pedestrian walkway in between the rails.

The court was told workers at the site had regularly rolled the trolleys along the pedestrian walkway for nearly two years, despite the panels not being designed to carry their weight.

The panel that collapsed had been repaired by a contractor a month before the incident after becoming bent, but the repair method was inappropriate and the quality of the welding was poor.

The owner of the factory and the employer of the workers injured, as well as the contractor, both admitted putting worker's lives at risk.

Speaking after the hearing, the widow of the deceased commented:

"I find it difficult coming to terms with the fact that he went to work one day but never came home. I just wouldn't like to think of the same thing happening to someone else.

"I've spent all my adult life with him. I met him when I was 16 and we had been married for 29 years. He was my world and my life, which revolved around him and our two children.

"He was a family man and a devoted husband and father. The past two years have been surreal. I feel I'm stuck in a bubble that when it pops everything is going to be alright, but then reality strikes and I know my life will never be the same again.

"I've lost my husband and our two children have lost their dad but I also feel he was cheated out of the life he wanted to live. Our little family unit that we worked on for 29 years is gone forever."

The owner of the site was charged with breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £35,000 in costs.

The contractor, also of the same address, was also charged with breaching Section 2(1) of the Act. The company was fined £25,000 with costs of £35,000.

The investigating inspector from the HSE added:

"One man has tragically lost his life and another is still very badly injured, two years after the incident, because neither of the companies responsible for their safety picked up on the warning signs.

"The walkway panels were bent out of shape over several months but no one appeared to be concerned about what was causing this. The situation was exacerbated by the poor choice of repair technique and standard of welding on the panel.

"This ultimately led to the collapse of the panel and the two workers being crushed. If the companies had thought more about the risks workers faced, then one man would still be alive today and another would not have been seriously injured."