Brick firm fined over tragic death
24/06/2010
A company has been ordered to pay more than £300,000 after a worker died when his head was crushed between a metal platform and some concrete blocks in Warwickshire.
Hanson Building Products Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the death of Peter Clarke, 57, at the firm's distribution plant in Coleshill on 26 April 2008. The company was fined £280,000 and ordered to pay costs of £29,204.
Warwick Crown Court was told that Mr Clarke, from Bedworth, was working next to a conveyor belt that transferred groups of concrete blocks from a kiln to a packaging area, removing samples of blocks for quality checking.
Sections of blocks were turned into larger groups for packaging by moving the conveyor's direction of travel backwards and forwards.
Mr Clarke was standing beside a low bridge over the conveyor when he leaned forward to remove some blocks from the machine.
His head was then crushed between the concrete blocks and the metal platform after another worker changed the direction of the conveyor belt.
The operator of the 30-metre conveyor belt was unable to see Mr Clarke because his view was obscured.
HSE inspector Peter Snelgrove said: "Employers should understand that where failing standards in the workplace result in serious injury or death, HSE will prosecute."
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