Rochdale cleaner's crush death prompts £140,000 fine

Date:

7 July 2010

Release No:

HSE/NW/14TS

A Rochdale plastics manufacturer has been fined £140,000 after a Portuguese cleaner was crushed to death by a pallet of bags weighing nearly one and a half tonnes.

TS (UK) Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at the Stakehill Industrial Estate in Middleton for failing to ensure the safety of its employees, and not having a worker trained in First Aid on duty.

The collapsed pallet of bags which caused Abel Lages' death

Manchester Crown Court, Minshull Street, heard that Abel Lages was cleaning up a spillage in the yard on 15 July 2005 when a wooden pallet, containing 55 bags of polypropylene, fell on him.

The material, which is used to manufacture washing up bowls, buckets and other plastic products, is dangerous to stack as it can pour out if there is a tear in a bag, making the stack unstable.

Mr Lages, 38, was found trapped under one of the collapsed pallets and died from his injuries at the scene.

John McGrellis, one of HSE's Principal Inspectors for Greater Manchester, said:

"Mr Lages died because TS (UK) Ltd didn't treat the health and safety of its workers as a priority. There were labels on the polypropylene bags that made it clear how they should be stored safely but this advice was ignored.

"The company didn't provide guidance about how to stack the pallets, and no one trained in First Aid was on duty to help try to resuscitate Mr Lages when the pallet fell on him.

"Since Mr Lages' death, TS (UK) Ltd has changed how it stores pallets so that it no longer stacks them on top of each other. If this action had been taken previously, Mr Lages may still be alive today."

TS (UK) Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulation 3(2) of the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981.

The company was fined at Manchester Crown Court on 7 July and ordered to an additional £10,588 towards the cost of the prosecution.

There were 32 deaths and 22,407 serious injuries in the manufacturing sector last year. More information on improving safety standards is available at www.hse.gov.uk/manufacturing

Notes to editors

1. The attached photo shows the collapsed pallet of bags which caused Abel Lages' death.
2. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 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."
3. Regulation 3(2) of the Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981 states: "An employer shall provide, or ensure that there is provided, such number of suitable persons as is adequate and appropriate in the circumstances for rendering first-aid to his employees if they are injured or become ill at work."
4. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement.

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