Crane collapse costs Corus £100,000
15/03/2010
Steelmaker Corus has been criticised by health and safety officials after a mobile crane collapsed at a Yorkshire steel works, injuring its operator.
The manufacturing giant was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £9,908.50 costs after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety laws in relation to the incident, which took place at Aldwarke Steel Works in Rotherham on September 4, 2008.
Sheffield Crown Court heard how the safe working load alarms that alert the operator when the crane has become overloaded were not switched on due to a lack of adequate training.
Concerns had already be raised over the stability of the vehicle, which toppled over after it was overloaded.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought about the prosecution against Corus, said the operator was "extremely lucky" to survive the incident.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Geoff Clark, said: "This is a serious health and safety breach by a company that globally employs tens of thousands of people which could easily have led to people being killed. The operator was extremely lucky to escape with only minor injuries.
"In this case the measures in place were simply inadequate, in particular, there was a substantial failure to provide enough suitable training."
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