The people who went to work and should have returned home but never did
These men went to work one day but tragically never returned. They were all killed as they went about their jobs, with subsequent investigations concluding the horrific incidents could have been prevented.
Health and safety failures were the reason these men didn’t make it home at the end of their shifts. The firms responsible for the breaches have been hauled through the courts and made to pay hefty fines.
But that doesn’t ease the heartache of their loved ones, with one devastated mum admitting she sees her son lying “dead or dying” under a skip every single night as she closes her eyes. Another mother said it was “heartbreaking” to hear how her son’s death was “easily and reasonably preventable”. You can find out more about the workplace tragedies below.
Engineer crushed to death at Müller Yogurt factory
Lewis McFarlin (Image: Family of Lewis McFarlin)
A man who worked for a Staffordshire[1] lift maintenance firm was crushed during a job at a Müller Yogurt and Desserts factory in Market Drayton. Lewis McFarlin was attempting to repair a goods lift at the site on January 14, 2020, when the tragedy happened.
The 24-year-old was working on a different lift with two colleagues before they were asked to resolve an issue with the door-opening mechanism on one of the lift landing doors. Lewis was on top of the lift car, while another was inside the lift and the third outside on the landing.
The lift had been placed in inspection mode enabling Lewis to control it from his position – but as worked progressed, it unexpectedly shifted to normal mode and began to move – at its normal speed – and trapped him in a void between the lift car and the structural elements of the lift shaft.
His colleagues tried unsuccessfully to release him and had already died by the time emergency services arrived. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that there was a failure to cover the void in which Lewis became trapped[2]. If it had been sheeted, the incident could not have happened.
Lift Monitoring Systems Limited pleaded guilty to failing to discharge the duty imposed upon it by Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £200,000. Müller was not prosecuted by HSE.
Lewis’ mum, Leah Salt, said: “Hearing how Lewis’ death was easily and reasonably preventable, is heartbreaking. No one should go to work and not return.”
Crane worker hit by two granite slabs
Robert Czachracz was fatally crushed by two granite slabs (Image: HSE)
Robert Czachracz was crushed against a forklift truck after two granite slabs fell on him[3] as he operated an overhead crane. The 46-year-old, from Poland, had been unpacking the slabs for Halesowen firm Graniteland Limited and moving them onto storage racks.
He was operating the crane’s handled pendant control when the slabs, weighing 250kg each, fell. Despite attempts from bystanders and medics to save him, Robert died at the Lyde Green site on November 30, 2020.
A Health and Safety Executive investigation found Graniteland Limited and its director, Shu Lai Li, failed to implement staff training or develop safe systems of work for the unloading, loading and handling of concrete slabs. The HSE also found the overhead crane and forklift truck had not been thoroughly examined, as required by law, and webbing slings, which could have been used during the unpacking process, were damaged.
The firm pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay £4,196.03 in costs and a £180 victim surcharge. The director also pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 was given a 12-month community order and was ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work and pay £4,043.42 in costs and a £95 victim surcharge.
HSE inspector Mahesh Mahey, said: “This was an entirely preventable accident. The risks of lifting and moving granite slabs were obvious, yet could have been controlled by relatively simple and inexpensive measures.”
Young worker was crushed to death in a quarry
Luke Branston (Image: Supplied by HSE)
Luke Branston died after becoming trapped between a conveyor and a feed hopper at Mountsorrel Quarry in Leicestershire. The fatal incident claimed the 26-year-old’s life in the early hours of June 21, 2017.
The much-loved son and brother, who was from Leicester, had been working on behalf of Branston Site Services Limited. The contractor was part of a nightshift maintenance team that was repairing a feed hopper at the Loughborough quarry, operated by Birmingham firm Tarmac Aggregates Limited.
Luke had stood on a conveyor that was located under the feed hopper, which had not been effectively isolated – through cutting the power – before the repair work started. It was then inadvertently switched on, trapping Luke against the feed hopper, fatally crushing him.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident found Tarmac Aggregates Limited had failed to ensure the feed hopper was properly isolated before the repair work commenced. The test button on the conveyor electrical panel was not connected to the test circuit and was therefore inoperative – an issue that appeared to have existed for many years before the incident the investigation found.
The Bickenhill Lane based company was fined £1,275,000 and ordered to pay £200,000 after it pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
HSE inspector Adrian Jurg said: “This is a devastating tragedy that claimed the life of a young man. Luke’s family have made clear the impact his passing has had on their lives and our thoughts remain with them. When a company like Tarmac profit from the hard work of contractors like Luke then the very least they owe him and his family is a duty to ensure he gets home safe at the end of his shift.”
Depot manager killed by lorry
A ‘loving dad and caring husband’ was killed by a reversing lorry at a transport yard in Birmingham. Neil Roberts, depot manager of Turners (Soham) Limited, was hit by a heavy goods vehicle on August 30, 2019.
The 60-year-old died at the Inkerman Street premises of The Haulage Group Ltd – then known as Howell Group Ltd – in Vauxhall. Neil was struck when the HGV reversed out of a parking space, with a subsequent Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation concluding the companies had failed to manage the risk linked to workplace transport[4].
The HSE found both firms had failed to recognise and manage the risks of large reversing vehicles where there was ‘poor visibility’ and had ignored the basic principle of keeping those walking on site and moving vehicles apart.
The Haulage Group Ltd, based at the Maybrook Business Park in Minworth, Sutton Coldfield[5] pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act (HSWA) 1974, and was fined £300,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,300. Turners (Soham) Limited of Fordham Road, Newmarket, Suffolk pleaded guilty to breaching the same sections of the HSWA and was fined £1.9m and ordered to pay costs of £7,300.
HSE principal inspector, Amy Kalay, said: “This tragic incident was completely preventable. If the companies had acted to identify and manage the risks involved, and to put a safe system of work in place, this incident would not have happened.”
Agency worker crushed by a skip at depot
Mark Wheatley
A man who was crushed under a skip made a desperate phone call to his parents to ask for help. Mark Wheatley died following an incident at the Dartmoor National Park Conservation Works depot in Devon on January 17, 2020.
The 31-year-old, who was from Sutton but lived in Teignbridge, Devon, was an agency worker on his second week. He had been using a lorry to lift two skips at the same time, using a method called ‘hot swapping’.
But the skips were not compatible as they were of different dimensions and fell at an angle onto the back of his lorry. Mark got on the lorry to correct the problem but the skips overbalanced and killed him. His heartbroken mum, Sue Wheatley said: “When we arrived at the scene we were held back by the police and so I couldn’t get close to him and couldn’t tell if he was dead or alive. That image is what I see every single night when I close my eyes and every single morning before I open my eyes. I shouted out to him that we were there. I will never know if he heard that or not[6].”
A Health and Safety Executive investigation found Valencia Waste Management Limited, based in Warwickshire[7], had ‘failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment into skip operations’ which meant that safe systems of work and appropriate training were not implemented.
Skips were also ‘not maintained in an efficient state’. And in addition, sizes were not displayed on the skips themselves. Valencia Waste Management Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £2 million.
References
- ^ Staffordshire (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
- ^ failure to cover the void in which Lewis became trapped (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
- ^ two granite slabs fell on him (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
- ^ failed to manage the risk linked to workplace transport (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
- ^ Sutton Coldfield (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
- ^ I will never know if he heard that or not (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
- ^ Warwickshire (www.birminghammail.co.uk)