Company sentenced for storage failings after worker is killed by stone slabs

Date:

4 July 2012

Release No:

HSE-E-87

An Essex granite manufacturer has been sentenced for safety failings after a worker was crushed to death by stone slabs weighing three tonnes.

The Stone Company UK Ltd's warehouse where the incident occurred

Martin Rice, 57, was unloading a delivery of manufactured stone and placing it on storage A-frames in a warehouse when the incident occurred at The Stone Company UK Ltd, on Sandford Mill Lane, Great Baddow, near Chelmsford, on 28 April 2009.

As he lowered a bundle of 11 slabs, weighing approximately three tonnes; the bundle fell over and crushed him against the wall of the building. The father-of-four died of his injuries at the scene.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard yesterday (3 July) that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the death and found that The Stone Company had operated an unsafe system of work for handling and storing stone slabs.

The A-frames in use were poorly sited and as such were inappropriate within the confines of the warehouse.

The Stone Company UK Ltd, of Manor Farm, Sanford Mill Lane, Great Baddow, pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £40,000.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Richard Rajham, said:

"A family has had their lives devastated by this tragic incident. The system of work for handling slabs of stone was dangerous, and Martin's death could have been avoided with some simple modifications to the layout of the storage area and to the storage equipment being used.

"It is vital that work of this nature is carefully planned and monitored, and that employee safety is of paramount importance at all times."

In February 2010 following Martin's death and other similar incidents, HSE issued a safety alert on the handling and storage of large sheet stone slabs. See http://www.hse.gov.uk/safetybulletins/stoneslabs.htm for details

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. www.hse.gov.uk
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."

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