A concrete manufacturer has been fined £1 million after a 24-year-old man died at a site in Nottingham.
Stewart Ramsay, from Mansfield, was working for Creagh Concrete Products Ltd (CCP) at its Thurgarton Lane site in Hoveringham when he suffered fatal head injuries on 15 March 2017.
Mr. Ramsay, known as “Stew”, was trying to fix a problem that happened as he and colleagues were using a metal grab to unload Spantherm, a concrete building product, from some trailers. The metal grab shouldn’t have been in use.
Mr. Ramsay’s head became trapped in the jaws of the grab after a rope connected to the locking lever snapped. Even though the rope was tied in a double-knot, the locking mechanism released the jaws of the grab as Mr. Ramsay pulled on it, causing fatal injuries.
CCP were sentenced at Nottinghamshire Crown Court, after they admitted failing to ensure its employees carried out lifting operations safely and without training and information being in place.
An investigation by the Health and Safety executive (HSE) showed that CCP did not have a safe system of work for the use of the grab and had not carried out a risk assessment to identify risks for its use. Both the grab and a fork lift truck being used at the time were in poor condition. Neither should have been in service at the time of the incident. CCP had failed to ensure that these pieces of work equipment had been maintained in an efficient state, efficient working order or in good repair.
Creagh Concrete Products Limited of Hoveringham Nottinghamshire pleaded guilty of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 in that it failed to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, the health, safety, and welfare at work of all its employees. The company was fined £1 million and ordered to pay costs of £47,521.08.
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