Young worker killed cleaning out cement truck

Northern Ireland-based Taranto Limited was fined £90,000 at Newry Crown Court after pleading guilty to a health & safety breach.

Taranto was prosecuted following the death of Matthew Biggerstaff, a 21-year-old production operative employed at the company’s main production site in Tandragee on 3^rd August 2021.

Mr Biggerstaff and two of his colleagues had been told to remove concrete that had set and accumulated on the interior walls of a truck-mounted mixing drum.

The employees took turns to climb into the drum and use an impact hammer to chip away at the hardened concrete. Access was gained by access hatches on either side of the drum. While Mr Biggerstaff was inside, the drum rotated – causing him to be ejected from the access hatch, drawn under the drum and suffer fatal crush injuries.

A subsequent investigation by the Health & Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSE NI) found that the drum had not been effectively locked-off, nor had the drum itself been secured to prevent any powered or inadvertent rotational movement.

Taranto Limited had failed to conduct a suitable task specific risk assessment and implement a safe system of work including the use of appropriate control measures to mitigate the risk.

HSE NI principal inspector Justine McIntyre said after the hearing: “This tragic and preventable incident resulted in a young man losing his life.

“Concrete operators must always consider if they can eliminate the need to enter the mixing drum to perform such activities.

“Where this is not possible, employers must ensure that an adequate and robust risk assessment and safe system of work is in place and that employees involved in the work activity have been suitably trained.

 “Performing cleaning and maintenance activities within the interior of concrete mixing drums presents safety risks which must be controlled. Both the truck and the mixing drum must be adequately locked out. Following lock-out, where there is any residual risk of the drum rotating, adequate measures must be taken to secure the drum and prevent it from moving when any person is inside.”

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