Two companies have been fined a total of £76,000 after a engineer was crushed to death by a machine on 24 February 2020.
Russell Hartley, 48, was a self-employed engineer from Sheffield who had been hired by Premier Engineering Projects Ltd to replace machinery at a materials recycling facility on Twelvetrees Crescent, Bow, London.
The father of three led a group of four engineers tasked with replacing a Trisomat screen – a machine that sorts different sizes of waste colloquially known as a ‘flip-flop’ – when the incident happened.
The flip-flop was fixed within a metal structure at height in a bay at the site. A crane supplied by M&M Mobile Crane Hire Ltd was first used to lower the machine from its position.
Hartley then took over using a telehandler. With the flip-flop on the telehandler’s forks, the machine was taken further down the bay.
The screen became jammed in the bay when Hartley attempted to reverse the telehandler. The crane was then used again to lift the flip-flop off the telehandler, which unknown to the workers, had its forks slightly raised above ground level.
As the crane moved towards the telehandler, the machine toppled forwards off the forks and crushed Hartley. Another worker, who was standing on the machine at the time, was thrown off, but escaped serious injury.
‘An entirely avoidable incident’
The HSE investigation found that two contractors, Premier Engineering Projects Ltd and M&M Mobile Crane Hire Ltd, failed to ensure the safety of those involved in carrying out the replacement of the Trisomat screen.
The work being undertaken was not properly planned, supervised, or carried out safely, and the assessment of the risks arising from the work was both unsuitable and insufficient.
Hartley was working at the site with nine other engineers, also hired by Premier Engineering Projects, as well as three workers from M&M Mobile Crane Hire.
Premier Engineering Projects Ltd, of Industry Road, Carlton, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It was fined £28,000 and ordered to pay £9,277.48 in costs at the Old Bailey on 1 August 2024.
M&M Mobile Crane Hire Ltd, of David Road, Colnbrook, Slough, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It was fined £48,000 and ordered to pay £9,500 in costs at the Old Bailey on 1 August 2024.
HSE inspector Mark Slater, who investigated this incident alongside HSE inspector David Beaton, said: “Had this work been planned, managed and monitored to a sufficient standard, this incident was entirely avoidable and Mr Hartley’s family would still have him in their lives. Risks arising from the lifting and moving of equipment of this size and nature are entirely foreseeable, and work of this nature should be afforded the utmost respect and care.”
