07/06/2010 - Firm fined over lift worker death
A firm which admitted breaching health and safety legislation after a lift fitter was crushed to death has been told to pay £45,000 in fines and costs.
Experienced lift worker Andrew Bates, 40, was refurbishing a lift at a surveyors' firm in Mayfair, central London, when he was caught between the top of the lift he was working on and the top of a fourth-floor landing door on December 6 2005.
The Old Bailey was told the accident happened because a hand-held controller Mr Bates was using had snagged on a bolt in the shaft, causing two wires to short and leading to "an unexpected upward movement".
Richard Tutt, prosecuting, said Mr Bates had been released by firefighters but was later pronounced dead after failing to respond to treatment.
J Brown Services Ltd, of West Kingsdown, Kent, had admitted a charge under health and safety laws.
Copyright © Press Association 2010
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