25/06/2010 - £300,000 fine for firm after death
A company has been handed a fine of almost £300,000 after one of its brick factory workers was killed when his head got crushed at a conveyor belt.
Peter Clarke, 57, was on the site in Birmingham for just a fortnight when the accident happened in April 2008.
The Health and Safety Executive successfully prosecuted Hanson Building Products, which runs the Coleshill factory.
Hanson was fined £280,000 and has to also pay costs of £29,204 because of its "failing standards".
At the time, Mr Clarke, who lived in Bedworth, was checking the quality of concrete blocks on a 30m conveyor belt, which was moving the blocks out of a kiln to a packaging area. The system moves moves backwards and forwards to assemble the concrete into larger groups.
Mr Clarke went to take blocks off the conveyor but a colleague changed the conveyor's direction and Mr Clarke's head got crushed between the concrete and a platform. His colleague did not see him because he had an obscured view of the work area.
Health and safety inspector Peter Snelgrove said: "Employers should understand that where failing standards in the workplace result in serious injury or death, HSE will prosecute."
Copyright © Press Association 2010
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