£1 fine for workplace death
AN engineering firm, which failed two years ago, has been fined a nominal £1 after an employee was killed moving heavy machinery.
Bruce Dempsey, 25, from Eccles, was walking alongside a forklift in December 2009 as it moved a half-tonne pressing machine at Applied Fusion in Patricroft, Salford, when it fell and struck him on the head. He died at the scene.
Sentencing guidelines suggest firms should be fined at least £100,000 in fatal health and safety cases.
St Helens-based Applied Fusion, which went into administration in March 2011, was found guilty at a trial last year at Manchester Crown Court of breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of its employees. The fine was imposed on Wednesday.
The company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found it had not planned the work in advance so that the machine could be moved safely. Inspectors believed the accident could have been prevented if the equipment had been strapped to the forklift.
The court heard that Applied Fusion had been moving four of its machines into a bigger workshop at the factory. It was during the move of the fourth machine that it became unstable and fell, resulting in Mr Dempsey’s death.
The company had taken over the Fielding Street factory six weeks before the incident, but a health and safety audit had not been carried out at the company’s new premises. The firm also failed to inform its own trained engineer responsible for overseeing lifting operations that it was planning to move the machines at the plant.
The forklift operator who lifted the machine had attended a one-day driver training course in October 2006, but was not trained and competent to lift any complicated loads that were not on pallets.
Applied Fusion was owned by Buffalo Holdings, which was supported by the Merseyside Special Investment Fund when it bought the business in 2008 for £750,000. An administrator’s report shows the business suffered from falling demand and rising costs. Its directors were Keith Bevan, Ian Hogg and David Potter.
In the year to May 2010 the firm made a trading profit of £44,600 on sales of £2.2m, but by the time administrators were appointed it had debts of around £1.2m. Buffalo went into voluntary liquidation in November 2011.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Mike Lisle, said: “Bruce Dempsey sadly lost his life because of the failings of his employer. It was important to bring this case to court to raise awareness of this issue so that similar tragic incidents can be prevented from happening again.
“Workers at the factory were told to move heavy, bulky machinery using a forklift truck, and the company should have made sure the work was properly planned in advance. If the machine had been strapped to the forks, and workers told to stay a safe distance away, then Mr Dempsey’s death could have been avoided.”
