23/11/2010 - Firm fined after employee's death
A galvanising company has been fined £1,500 after a 49-year-old man was crushed to death.
David Hunt, from Dudley, died after a crane's jig and load, weighing about 1.3 tonnes, fell on him while he was working at Birmingham-based Ark Brothers Limited.
The Health and Safety Executive prosecuted the firm, which at the time of the incident in January 2008 was trading as Arkinstall Galvanising Ltd, after it found that the machinery was unsuitable and poorly maintained.
Mr Hunt was moving 500kg of metal components when the incident happened at Ebro Works in Tividale, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
Mr Hunt had worked at the company for more than 20 years, following his father who had also been employed by the firm.
Ark Brothers Limited, of Charter House, Legge Street, Birmingham, was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay £37,500 costs on November 17 after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 4 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Copyright © Press Association 2010
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