Prosecutions

The employee was working at the company’s site on 4 August 2009, when an unsecured electrical control cabinet weighing just over half a tonne, fell on him, resulting in fatal injuries.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the employee was in the process of removing sheet steel from the disused cabinet for re-use. The cabinet had been propped up against a wall and was unsecured after being left behind by machinery removal men who had visited the factory some months earlier.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that, during the employees efforts to remove the sheet steel, the cabinet slid away from the wall, crushing him underneath.

The HSE found that the company had failed to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of its employees, including the victim.

The company has now gone into liquidation. In their absence, the firm was found guilty of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The judge handed down a fine of £5,000, but told the court that the fine should not reflect the seriousness with which he viewed the matter. The judge awarded costs of £36,571.

Speaking after the hearing, a HSE inspector said:

"This was a tragic death that could have so easily been prevented. This fatality shows the importance of carrying out thorough risk assessments of the working environment, especially following any major changes.

"A competent risk assessment would have revealed the instability of the electrical control cabinet that fell on the victim and the need for it to be secured to prevent it from falling."