HSE | Two companies have been fined following an incident which resulted in the deaths of two workers in West Yorkshire.
Lee Horton, 58, and Daron Pickstock, 43, were killed when an industrial racking system collapsed as it was being tested at Castefields Industrial Estate in Bingley on 29 October 2020.
The racking was being tested at a site belonging to Space Productiv Ltd, of which Mr. Horton, from Ilkley, was the managing director.
Mr. Pickstock, who was from Chorley, was self-employed and working for a company called Collins Site Services.
The racking system was being loaded with test weights, some of which weighed up to two tonnes, when the structure began to collapse. The two men had been working from a mobile elevating work platform (MEWP) next to the racking structure as it was being loaded.
However, as the structure collapsed, it struck the MEWP, causing it to overturn while both men were inside. Mr. Horton and Mr. Pickstock sustained fatal injuries and died shortly afterwards.
An investigation by the HSE found that both companies failed to adequately assess the risks arising from the work being undertaken and failed to put in place a safe system of work to ensure the health and safety of those involved.
The HSE also found that the planned and implemented systems of work were unsafe. Workers were positioned within the collapse zone of the racking during testing, placing them at serious risk should the structure fail.
Space Productiv Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £97,500 and ordered to pay £17,377 in costs.
Collins Site Services Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £10,292 in costs.
HSE Inspector Mark Slater said: “All work activities where there is a risk to health and safety should be properly planned and risk assessed, and safe systems of work must be followed.”
“Where risks cannot be eliminated, it is vital that workers are kept out of danger zones to reduce the risk of serious injury or death.”
“In this case, inadequate planning and unsafe systems of work exposed workers to an unacceptable level of risk. This was a wholly avoidable incident.”
The prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Daniel Poole and paralegal officer Sarah Zara Salman.
