Firms fined after lift fall death
17/05/2010
A gym owner has been fined more than £230,000 after a woman was killed in an accident in a lift which had a long history of faults and breakdowns.
Polish-born Katarzyna Woja died on March 12, 2003, at Broadgate Health Club in the City of London when she became trapped in the doors while leaving the lift, which then dropped and crushed the banker to death, London's Southwark Crown Court heard.
The lift - which had been the subject of 41 repair call-outs in just over a year, compared to an annual average of just three - had also dropped the day before the accident but had been allegedly fixed, Tim Owen QC, for the prosecution, said.
Holmes Place Health Clubs and lift firm ThyssenKrupp Elevator UK were each fined £233,000 over breaches of health and safety regulation in connection with the 32-year-old's death.
The accident is thought to have happened due to a hydraulic fault or a crash in the lift's "brain", a programmable logic controller. Mr Owen added that neither firm had reacted to "clear warning signs" of the lift's faulty nature.
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