The firm was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after three tonnes of steel plates fell on a young man at the company’s site.

The steelmaker was also ordered to pay £112,500 costs at Stafford Crown Court after it pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The court heard how on 4 January 2007, the young man who was employed by a transport company was helping to load steel plates onto a lorry. An employee of the steelmaker was operating a crane to lift a three-tonne pack of steel from a trailer, however, the load was not level, and as it was lifted it fell on top of the young man and killed him.

An HSE investigation showed the system of work for loading steel was unsafe. Not all the individual tasks involved had been evaluated and there was scope for misunderstanding between workers.

An inspector from the HSE who investigated the incident said:

"This was a tragedy that could and should have been avoided. All the steps involved in an overall task should be analysed to create a safe system of work, and the consequences of something going wrong should always be taken into account.

Anyone can make errors - no matter how well trained and motivated they are - but employers must develop a safe way of working that helps to prevent mistakes and reduces the severity of the consequences if they do occur. If Corus had a safe system of working then this young man would not have been killed simply doing his job."