Assystem UK fined over worker’s death

ENGINEERING company Assystem UK has been ordered to pay more than £200,000 in fines and costs for safety failings following the death of an electrician who was crushed by an overhead crane at a Preston factory.

Liam O’Neill, 51, from Didsbury, Manchester had been trying to replace a control cable when the incident happened in Bamber Bridge, Preston in March 2011.

Mr O’Neill died in hospital a week after the incident.

Assystem, part of the international Assystem group, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found Mr O’Neill had been able to work on a platform in the path of the overhead crane without the power to the crane first being switched off.

At Preston Crown Court Assystem UK Ltd, of Club Street in Bamber Bridge, was fined £160,000 and ordered to pay £52,500 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Stuart Kitchingman said: “Liam tragically lost his life because his employer didn’t think about the potential consequences of having a working platform in the path of an overhead crane.

“It would have been simple to put a system in place to make sure power to the crane was switched off before anyone climbed onto the platform, or to put up a barrier to prevent access to the platform.”