Steven Allen, 23 and from Keighley man, died from massive crush injuries when his head became trapped in the jaws of a grab device being used to move a pallet of cement bags. The grab was not designed for this application.
Mr Allen (below) was part of a team working on a building project for Bradford Council in Manningham in March 2007. Moving the 30 or so cement bags was to be the last job before the weekend when the incident happened.
Bradford Crown Court heard this week that workers used a block grab attached to an excavator to move the load. As they did, the bags fell two metres to the ground, but the pallet remained in the jaws of the block grab. The pallet pivoted and Steven Allen took hold of it to pull it free. As the pallet came away, the jaws dropped and clamped on Steven’s head, causing severe injuries. He died the following day.
A Health & Safety Executive investigation found that the grab was being used against manufacturer’s instructions and was not suitable for the job. Block grabs are designed to lift and move rectangular loads strapped together such as packs of bricks. The company had also failed to implement a safe system for lifting and transporting the bags of cement.
J N Bentley Ltd of Keighley Road, Skipton, North Yorkshire, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Last week it was fined £106,250 and ordered to pay costs of £90,000.
HSE principal inspector Dave Redman said: "The firm made a fundamental error by using a block grab to lift and move pallets and this resulted in the tragic death of a young man. This use was very clearly advised against by the manufacturers and the risks should have been understood by the company.
"Nevertheless, they allowed machinery to be used on their site which was totally unsuitable for the task. No assessment was made regarding the use of the grab and no instructions were given to the men who were operating it. Planning to make sure that work is carried out safely is not a formality or a tick-box exercise but is crucial to identifying and controlling risks.
"It shouldn’t take a death to remind employers that failure to properly plan the work can have tragic consequences. An alternative way of lifting the pallet should have been used. Pallets are designed to be lifted using fork attachments which could have been fitted to the excavator. This would have prevented the incident which led to Steven Allen’s death. If employers take their eye off the ball, it’s all too easy for otherwise safe and routine tasks to turn into unacceptable risks."
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
