Steel firm fined after cherry picker plunge

Date:

19 January 2011

Release No:

SCO/003/11

A man was left with multiple broken bones when the scissor lift he was working in was struck by an overhead crane and fell to the ground.

Steel erector Alexander Struthers, 36, was using a scissor lift - often called a cherry picker - to drill holes in the roof at a paint workshop at steel fabrication firm BHC Ltd in Carnwarth on 3 April 2008.

There was an overhead crane installed in the workshop to move steel around and Mr Struthers was working with his back towards it at the time of the incident. He did not hear the crane moving towards him as it hit the scissor lift basket he was in, knocking it five and a half metres to the ground.

As a result, Mr Struthers broke his hip, pelvis, thigh bone, knee, ankle and nose. He was in hospital for six days and endured a nine-hour operation to repair various bones.

A subsequent operation has left him with an 18-inch pin in his thigh bone as well as various pins, metal plates and screws in his hip, pelvis and ankle. He is in constant pain, still attends physiotherapy and walks with the aid of sticks.

BHC Ltd pleaded guilty to breaking Regulation 4 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 at Lanark Sheriff Court. The firm admitted failing to ensure the work at height was properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out in a reasonably practicable safe manner and was fined £20,000.

Following the case, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Inspector Eve Macready said:

"This completely avoidable incident has had an enormous impact on Mr Struthers' life.

"If BHC Ltd construction had properly planned or supervised the work they would have recognised that the overhead crane was a hazard and stopped it being used while Mr Struthers and his colleagues were working on the roof.

"Duty holders have an obligation to ensure all work at height is properly planned and a proper risk assessment has taken place."

In 2009/10 38 workers in Britain died as a result of falls from height.

Notes to editors

1. 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. http://www.hse.gov.uk/
2. In Scotland the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has sole responsibility for the raising of criminal proceedings for breaches of health and safety legislation.
3. Regulation 4 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 states that: 1) Every employer shall ensure that work at height is (a)properly planned; (b)appropriately supervised; and (c)carried out in a manner which is so far as is reasonably practicable safe, and that its planning includes the selection of work equipment in accordance with regulation 7.

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