£50,000 fine after man crushed to death by scrapyard claw

Date:

30 November 2009

Release No:

COISE/1111

The death of a man crushed by a scrapyard grab claw has prompted a prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and a £50,000 fine.

James Huntley & Sons Ltd of Sholing, Southampton, pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and contravening Regulation 3(6) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 at Southampton Magistrates Court on 28 October 2009.

At Southampton Crown Court on Friday 27 November, the company was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £34,373.80.

Barry Collins, 24, from Millbrook, Southampton was killed when he and his brother, Joey Collins, visited the site run by metal recyclers James Huntley & Sons Ltd in Sholing, Southampton on 2 August 2007. They were examining a vehicle for its parts and entered the site by the open back gate while the grab claw crane operator was elsewhere. The grab claw crane was used to move scrap around the site.

Barry Collins was inside the van when the crane operator came back to start work. Despite his brother, Joey, trying to tell the crane driver that Barry was in the van, the operator misunderstood and thought he was being asked to pick up the van.

As the crane picked up the vehicle Barry Collins was in, he suffering major neck and shoulder injuries and was instantly crushed by the crane's five-finger grab. He died at the scene.

At the time of the incident, there were no warning signs around and outside the site to indicate which areas were out of bounds to members of the public and there were no published site rules or formal systems of work.

HSE Inspector Roger Upfold said:

"This was a truly tragic miscommunication that led to a man's death. Had simple measures been in place to control site access and let members of the public know where they should and shouldn't go, this awful incident would probably never have happened.

"Recycling sites are dangerous work environments. As such, warning notices, communication of site rules, and the use of high visibility clothing, should all be used to set clear expectations for the behaviour of visitors."

Notes to editors

1. Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 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.
2. Regulation 3(6) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states: Where the employer employs five or more employees, he shall record - (a) the significant findings of the assessment; and (b) any group of his employees identified by it as being especially at risk.
3. The accident record of the waste and recycling industry was revealed through a research project carried out by Bomel Limited. Their report for HSE 'Mapping health and safety standards in the UK waste industry' showed that, in 2001-2002:
   1. the number of fatal incidents was over ten times the national average;
   2. incident rates were four times the national average.
4. Further information on health and safety in waste management and recycling is available from HSE's web pages at:http://www.hse.gov.uk/waste/index.htm
5. HSE information and news releases can be accessed on the Internet http://www.hse.gov.uk

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News & PR South East