A national builders’ merchant has been fined £2.2m after a worker was fatally crushed by a timber pallet.
Paul Coulson was removing plastic packaging from pallets of timber inside a conveyor on 22 May 2024 at a site in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
An operative, who could not see Coulson from his position (and unaware he was inside), started the machinery.
The 56-year-old was struck initially by a pack of timber weighing approximately three tonnes, and a second time when the operative attempted to move the load again. Coulson died at the scene from crush injuries.
Access not prevented
In its investigation, the HSE identified from CCTV that between 14 April and 23 May 2024, operatives entered the framework of the conveyor 19 times.
The HSE found that the company had placed signs on the machinery to prevent the working practice, but no further action was taken to stop access.
The builders’ merchant, which operates more than 330 sites across the UK, including 230 core merchant branches, pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 Section 2(1) and fined £2.2m.
According to Joanne Williams, the HSE inspector who oversaw the investigation, the fine was in line with the severity of the incident. “This was a staggering failure that has cost a man his life and robbed a family of their loved one, and the scale of the fine handed down reflects the gravity of this case,” she said.
