Health and Safety Failings – Lifting equipment incident leads to prosecution

Lifting equipment incident leads to prosecution 

Key Facts:

• An incident involving inappropriate lifting equipment left a worker with life changing injuries.
• A four-tonne piling hammer struck him, whilst it was being moved into position.
• Both his employer and the principal contractor on the project were prosecuted, each receiving a £19,000 fine, plus costs.

The case:

An investigation was launched by the HSE into the safety practices of two companies, after a worker suffered multiple fractures after being struck by a four-tonne piling hammer. Works were being undertaken to renew sewage works at a site in Hartlepool when the incident, involving inappropriate lifting equipment, happened on 16 September 2012.

The 62-year-old worker was lifting a piling hammer into position, suspended from an excavator, and using the hammer to drive timber piles into the beach. As the hammer was being moved to the next pile, the supporting sling broke and the hammer fell, knocking the working into the water.

He was left with fractures to his vertebra, pelvis, and left thigh, and also suffered muscle damage to his shoulder and knee. He was hospitalised for 11 days and his since been unable to return to work. He can walk unaided, but still suffers persistent pain, and his life changing injuries necessitated him moving to a bungalow to avoid stairs.

The HSE investigation found that this phase of work had not been properly planned or monitored by the project’s principal contractor. In initial planning phases, a smaller hammer had been identified – but when it was not powerful enough, it was switched for the larger hammer. The extra length of this new hammer was not fully considered which led to unsafe working practices involving the lifting equipment used.

Had the work plan been changed appropriately when the large hammer was introduced, and more suitable lifting equipment used, this accident could have been avoided.

The case was heard at Hartlepool Magistrates’ Court on 20 April 2015, where the worker’s employer pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 8(1)(c) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. They were fined £19,000 and costs of £14,895.25 in costs.

The principal contractor pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 8(1)(c) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. They were also fined £19,000 and ordered to pay £8,652.45 in costs.

What the HSE Inspector had to say:

Speaking after the hearing the HSE Inspector Martin Smith stated that:

“This worker’s injuries should not and need not have happened. Had the work plan been changed when the circumstances changed and a different hammer was brought into use, it could have easily been avoided by using a suitable lifting machine.

“Instead, a system of work evolved that was far from safe and as a result part of the sling was stretched across the sharp edge of the excavator bucket, causing it to break.

“The failures by both companies to look properly at the risks involved and then organise the lifting operation properly put staff at needless risk. This sadly led to the painful and life-changing injuries suffered by Mr Wilson.”

What the law states:

Regulation 22(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 states:

“The principal contractor for a project shall plan, manage and monitor the construction phase in a way which ensures that, so far as is reasonably practicable, it is carried out without risks to health or safety.”

Regulation 8(1) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 states:

Every employer shall ensure that every lifting operation involving lifting equipment is: … (c) carried out in a safe manner.

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