GNN SCO/051/07 11 May 2007

Company and sole trader fined £37,500 after steel beam falls from vehicle and fatally injures the driver

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has today warned road haulage and steel fabrication companies of the importance of having properly secured heavy loads, following the death of a driver in Leith.

Steel fabrication company, McDonald and Ross Ltd, and a road haulage sole trader, Ron Boyd Trading, were today fined a total of £37,500 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court. Mr Nicholas McKellar age 45, died after a steel beam weighing almost 1000kg fell from a vehicle as it was being unloaded, on 10 October 2005.

McDonald and Ross Ltd of Mayfield Industrial Estate, Dalkeith were fined £30,000; having pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSW Act), and Ron Boyd Trading, also of Mayfield Industrial Estate, was fined £7,500 after pleading guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of HSW Act..

HSE Inspector Isabelle Martin commented after the case:

‘It is entirely foreseeable that a load on a vehicle will move during transit on the road. It is therefore important that the load is placed onto the vehicle in its most stable orientation and that appropriate measures are taken to ensure that it cannot fall from the vehicle at any time. It is also important that the stability of the load is assessed prior to beginning to unload it.

“This incident could, therefore, easily have been prevented. The beam that fell from the vehicle was one of three identical beams placed on the vehicle. Each of these beams could have been placed on their side therefore making it very unlikely that they could fall.”

Notes to editors:

• Section 2(1) of HSW Act states, “It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.”
• Section 3(1) of HSW states, “It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.”
• The Maximum fine for breaches of Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of HSW Act on indictment in the Sheriff Court is an unlimited fine for each offence.
• McDonald and Ross Ltd were contracted by a residential developer to fabricate, deliver and erect a steel framed building in Arthur Street, Leith. However they were unable to deliver the steel to the construction site themselves and therefore subcontracted delivery to The Ron Boyd Group.
• On 8 October 2005, McDonald and Ross, partially assisted by Nicholas McKellar, employed as a driver by Ron Boyd, loaded the steel for the 4 th floor of the building onto one of Ron Boyd’s vehicles. The vehicle containing the steel was then driven from Mayfield to the site in Arthur Street, Leith on the morning of 10 October 2005 by Mr McKellar. Mr McKellar arrived at the site and was met by two of McDonald and Ross Ltd’s employees and directed to park next to the pavement across the road from the construction site, where the steel was to be unloaded. Mr McKellar began to remove the straps that retained the load on the vehicle, however the load had become unstable and a steel beam fell to the ground striking Mr McKellar.
• The HSE investigation revealed that McDonald and Ross Ltd had failed to assess the risks involved in loading and unloading steel. They also failed to ensure that the steel was correctly placed upon the timber bearers on the vehicle. Ron Boyd had failed to ensure that his employees involved in loading, unloading and transporting steel to site had been properly trained.
• Contractors should have made arrangements for the safe delivery and unloading of materials to their sites. A number of simple steps can prevent this type of accident occurring. Guidance has recently been published by the British Constructional Steel Association.
• For more advice on workplace transport safety visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/workplacetransport/index.htm
• There have been a number of similar incidents in the recent past and HSE will be targeting inspections on such work during the later part of 2007

Issued on behalf of the HSE by Government News Network Scotland. For further information, please call Paul Burgess: 0131 244 9060 / 07974 668 267