Vauxhall fined £150k after Ellesmere Port worker’s death

CAR manufacturer Vauxhall Motors has been fined £150,000 after admitting safety breaches after the death of a long-serving employee at its Ellesmere Port plant.

Ian Heard from Birkenhead, an electrician at the site, was killed after he was crushed by machinery in the factory’s paint plant in July 2010.

At Liverpool Crown Court, Vauxhall’s parent company General Motors UK admitted  two breaches of health and safety regulations by failing to ensure safey of employees and failure to prevent access to dangerous parts of their machinery.

In addition to the fine, the company was ordered to pay £19,654 in prosecution costs.

Mr Heard, 59,  had worked at Vauxhall for more than 40 years and received a long-service award.

The Court was told that Mr Heard had been working in the paint unit at the factory where trolleys – known as skids – carry cars through a conveyer system to be spray painted.

He had entered the part of the unit where the skids are stacked in order to try and free some after they became stuck. As he moved them the machine restarted and he was crushed.

The HSE investigation found a doorway had been created through a wall at the back of the paint unit, sometime after the machine had been installed in the 1990s, which allowed access without the power being cut.

A risk assessment carried out in 2000 identified the potential danger posed by the new door but no further action was taken by the company. It had also become standard practice for workers to use the door to free skids when they became stuck.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Martin Paren said: “Ian Heard was a dedicated and loyal worker at Vauxhall for more than 40 years, but sadly he lost his life because of the company’s safety failings.

“There was absolutely no point in Vauxhall carrying out a risk assessment into the dangers posed by the machine if it wasn’t going to act on the recommendations.

“As a result workers who walked through the door to free up skids in the paint unit were put in danger for almost a decade, and one of them eventually suffered fatal injuries.

“The company has now installed a new safety system on the door which means power to the machine has to cut before the door can be opened. If this system had been in place in July 2010 then Mr Heard’s life could have been saved.”

Ian’s brother, Martin Heard, added: “My brother worked at Vauxhall for 43 years and was looking forward to retirement. He was loyal to the company and to his colleagues.

“This loyalty and Vauxhall’s neglect of its basic duty of care to the workforce cost my brother his life. Commercial pressure should not be a consideration where safety of staff is concerned.”

Vauxhall said in a statement: “This was an unfortunate case set against the background of an exceptional track record for workplace safety within Vauxhall’s manufacturing environment.

“Safety will continue to be the number one priority for Vauxhall across its business.”