05.03.2009

Croydon company fined £66,000 for fatal lifting accident

P Colohan and Company of Croydon was prosecuted after the death of an employee, John Walsh killed when an excavator bucket fell from a crane.
Walsh, a construction supervisor, on its site in Wood Green, Haringey, died on the 6 May 2004, when an excavator bucket being lifted, fell and hit Walsh on the head.

P Colohan and Company were fined £66,000 and ordered to pay costs of £40,950 at the Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, after pleading guilty to a breach of Regulation 8(1)(c) of The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (commonly known as LOLER).

P Colohan was a subcontractor responsible for preparing a concrete frame for a nine storey building. The building was being constructed at 35 Station Road, Wood Green, by Mount Anvil Plc (MAP) for their client, Metropolitan Home Ownership. Mr Walsh was a carpenter by trade and site supervisor / foreman working for this sub-contractor.

On 6th May 2004, four excavator buckets were being lifted by a crane to the front bucket of an excavator, which was parked adjacent to the site. A reinforced metal bar (usually used to reinforce concrete) had been threaded through the holes on top of two of the four buckets, all of which were placed together. A chain was hitched to the attachment pins of the other two buckets. Mr Walsh gave a hand signal and a verbal instruction via a radio to the driver of the crane to lift the weight. Workers on the first floor level say the load was then hoisted some three to six metres. Witnesses report the chains were jerking from side to side and the reinforced bar was not level, with the larger of the buckets being higher than the other. This bucket then fell off the bar striking John Walsh and causing him fatal head injuries.

The HSE investigation found the lifting operation was not properly planned or executed. The company had not provided any specific risk assessments or method statements for this operation and had not taken sufficient steps to ensure that Mr Walsh was qualified to carry out this work.

HSE inspector, Simon Hester, said, "This tragedy was avoidable. Critically, the employers failed to manage high risk activities effectively and failed to ensure that their staff were fully competent to carry out these tasks. The use of cranes for everyday work on construction sites is so common that it is easy to succumb to complacency. But complacency can lead to terrible results. The LOLER regulations are very specific and any employer using cranes should review their management of these high risk lifting operations, particularly the competence of lift supervisors, slingers and banksmen."