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Deaths in 2001
Deaths in 2001
Back to Top Deaths in 2002
FURTHER DETAILS OF DEATHS Brian Kindleysides
Brian, a drainage foreman, died after being crushed to death under an overturned tractor while laying water pipes outside Oxen Park Farm. He worked for sub-contractors hired by Ryan and Sons Ltd of Kendal to lay the pipes for United Utilities. The inquest was held at Furness Coroner’s Court on 5 and 6 January 2003. United Utilities had stipulated that Waitings were not to use their 40-year old Fordson Major tractor due to safety concerns and instead Ryan hired a Ford tractor. However the Fordson was used instead. The inquest heard that as the winch hit resistance the tractor tipped over and fell on to its side trapping Brian underneath. Consultant pathologist at Furness General Hospital, Dr Vijay Joglekar who carried out the post mortem, told the hearing that the traumatic injuries Brian suffered would almost certainly have killed him instantly. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.
Ralph Newbold
Ralph, a retired cattleman, was found trampled to death while helping his ex-employer David James Altham at Yanwath Hall Farm near Penrith during the foot and mouth crisis. Ralph was found lying dead in a field. There were no witnesses to the incident. Ralph died from chest injuries. The inquest was held at NE Cumbria Coroner’s Court on 22 January
2002. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.
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Erik Ronald Turner
Erik, a self-employed mushroom grower, was killed when hit by a van. Erik had been speaking to the driver of the Ford Transit van when he hobbled to the back and was hit. The inquest took place at North East Cumbria Coroner's Court on 20 February 2002 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' returned.
Percy Wilson
Percy, a bodybuilder working at the Camskills Cycles shop, Whitehaven, died after falling off a ladder while retrieving a cycle part from a high shelf. Percy underwent brain surgery in a Newcastle hospital but died four days later. Colleague Michael Oakes found Percy on the concrete floor on all fours with blood coming from his head. 'He was across the ladder with cycle against him. He was bleeding from the head, he was dizzy and started being sick. I rang for an ambulance immediately,' he said. Health and Safety officer Brian Roebuck told the inquest jury that he had investigated the scene and the ladder lacked proper feet and had been used at an incorrect angle (between 54 and 57 degrees, compared with the ideal of 76 degrees). The ladder was was in fact the top part of a two or three-stage ladder which had been cut and 'was not really suitable for use.' A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.
Colin Edwards
Colin. a self-employed builder, died in hospital after being electrocuted by an electric generator in a house he was building. The inquest was held at Furness Coroner’s Court (case moved from Cumbria as Coroner knew deceased) on 21 January 2004 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.
Stephen Grainger
Stephen, a paper mill worker, died from 80 per cent burns suffered after being showered in scalding steam and water when carrying out maintenance on a pump that had not been isolated. Stephen died in Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, two weeks after the incident which occurred while he was working in place of someone off sick. The inquest was held at South Cumbria Coroner’s Court in Kendal on 16 December 2002. The jury heard how Stephen had been working in the boiler house at Cropper's Mill, Burneside. The job involved repairing a mechanical seal on a water pump and was described by the company as a 'routine mechanical task'. It emerged that although the electricity to the pump had been isolated, for an unknown reason the pipe work and valves containing the steam and water had not been disconnected. Paramedics giving evidence described how the maintenance engineer had received severe scalding but was fully conscious and walked into the ambulance with help from fellow workers. His widow, Sarah Eliza Grainger said she visited him in hospital the day after the accident and asked him what had happened. 'He said he asked the guy was it switched off, but it wasn't,' said Sarah Grainger. The 'guy' in question was later identified during the inquest as Lee Jason Finch who had been working with Stephen. The Coroner Cyril Prickett asked the former Cropper's house operator, 'You have heard what Mrs Grainger said. That her husband said he asked the guy Is it switched off? and it was not. It was not switched off, was it?' Mr Finch replied, 'It was switched off electrically, sir.' Mr Prickett said, 'So when Mr Grainger said to you Is it switched off? you were talking about the electrics, not the isolation of any part of the valves.' 'Yes sir,' said Mr Finch. Mr Finch said he was talking to a mechanic in another part of the site when he realised there had been an accident. 'I heard some screaming, sir,' said Mr Finch. 'I ran back to the boiler house and I found him. He was drenched in water and was wet from head to toe." The employee who had been due to carry out the work but had been absent was Tim Richardson. He told the hearing he considered that the job of isolating the electricity and pipework was the responsibility of the person doing the work. Company maintenance manager Glyn David Gannon said Mr Grainger was capable of doing the job due to his previous experience and having received appropriate training. However, following an investigation into the accident by the Health and Safety Executive, an improvement notice was served on the firm. This had led to the implementation of a raft of safety procedures being introduced for such jobs. Advising the jury, Mr Prickett said there was no evidence whatsoever of gross neglect or manslaughter. 'For some reason, which is not known and never will be known, the system had not been isolated that particular Saturday when this was being carried out,' said Mr Prickett. The jury of five men and three women returned a verdict of 'Accidental Death' within ten minutes of retiring to consider the evidence.
Robert Templeton
Robert, a joiner at a water treatment works, was killed when he fell into a 30 foot deep concrete tank. The inquest was held at North East Cumbria Coroner's Court on 8 April 2003. The jury at the inquest heard how on the 10 September 2002, Robert offered to help a colleague struggling to move a metal tube. But he slipped or tripped off the edge of the platform he was standing on. His son Stephen was working alongside him at the time. Robert was taken to Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, and later transferred to Newcastle General Hospital. He died three days later from brain injuries sustained in the fall. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.
Raymond Barrow
Raymond, a farmer, was injured when he slipped on a manure pile at the Thompson Fold farm on 24 August 2002. He died three days later. The inquest was held at South Cumbria Coroner's Court on 12 November 2002. A verdict of 'Accidental Death was returned'.
Neil Cannon
Neil, a contractor for PC Richardson, died after falling 350
ft while working on the decommissioning of the Windscale Pile chimney at Sellafield. Neil was working as part of a 40-strong team on the chimney, which had not operated since it caught fire in 1957. He was manoeuvring a heavy steel beam on the ledge of the chimney when it cut through his safety line. The full verdict returned by the inquest jury said that, 'Neil Cannon died from multiple injuries whilst working when he fell from a high ledge in a chimney; in part because the written system of work was not being followed and appropriate and or adequate, and appropriate measures to prevent this were not taken.' Coroner John Taylor said he did not think a simple verdict of accident would fully reflect the circumstances of his death. Barry Snelson, managing director of the Sellafield site, said they are doing all they can to learn from this event to ensure that it can never happen again. 'The whole site was stunned and shocked by this tragedy and our grief is only a tiny fraction of that suffered by Neil’s family. Our hearts go out to them. All on the site feel as distressed as I do. I am determined that we are not going to put this tragedy behind us and we are not going to get over it. We owe it to Neil and his family to keep Neil’s memory fresh, every day, as a continual spur to never letting our guard drop on safety. Before this tragedy we thought we were devoted to safety on the Sellafield site. Since, we have doubled, trebled and quadrupled our efforts and dedication. We have set ourselves the target of zero accidents on the site and intend to achieve it. No other target is defensible.' The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which was represented at the inquest, along with the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, was studying the evidence with a view to further action. It could bring prosecutions against British Nuclear Fuels and Neil ’s employer, PC Richardson, which was contracted to carry out the specialist decommissioning work on the chimney. If the HSE finds that breaches of regulations have taken place, it will have a statutory duty to prosecute. The Crown Prosecution Service, after a long investigation, has already decided not to bring any corporate manslaughter charges, but the inquest evidence opens the way for a separate health and safety prosecution. An HSE spokesman said they would be looking at what had come out of the four-day inquest to see whether the evidence presented a realistic prospect of conviction in a criminal court, and whether it was in the public interest to prosecute. If the answer to both the questions was yes, they would look at bringing prosecutions.
Peter Johnstone
Peter was driving a JCB along the A6071 Gretna to Longtown road when
he suddenly veered right as a lorry was attempting to pass. The lorry
ploughed into the side of the JCB which toppled the digger over and trapped
Peter under the cab. Neil christie, a surveyor from London, said, 'I clearly saw the lorry indicate to pass the JCB. As it drew alongside the tractor, the JCB made a sudden movement to turn right as if caught by a gust of wind as the two came together.'
Deaths of Gary Tindall, Colin Buckley, Chris Waters and Darren Burgess (Tebay Rail Tragedy)
Gary, Colin, Chris and Darren were railway maintenance workers who were killed along when a wagon carrying 16 tonnes of steel rail tracks came out of the darkness and hit them as they worked on the West Coast Main Line. In March 2006 Mark Connolly, the owner of MAC Railway Services, sub-contractors for Carillion rail, was found guilty on four counts of manslaughter and jailed for nine years. He was also found guilty on three counts of breaching Health and Safety laws. Roy Kennett, Mark Connolly's crane operator, was also found guilty on four counts of manslaughter and on a single count of breaching Health and Safety laws and jailed for two years. 'Network Rail have already brought rail maintenance back in-house for safety and efficiency reasons, and for exactly the same reasons they should bring all renewals work back in-house too,' Bob Crow added. In March 2006 the Carlisle Coroner David Osborne wrote to solicitors for the families to ask if they wished for an inquest into the deaths since, although such criminal convictions would normally remove the need for a full inquest, he wanted to ensure the families’ questions about the incident have been fully addressed.
Colin Barton Gill
Colin was an electrician. He fell from a fork-lift truck while repairing lighting at Borderman Trucks, Penrith on 23 April, and died later in hospital. The inquest was held at North East Cumbria Coroner's Court on 21 October 2004 when a verdict of 'Misadventure' was returned. Coroner Ian Morton said the jury felt there was a known risk involved in what Mr Gill was doing. In April 2005 Borderman Trucks Limited, the company which had contracted Colin, was fined £13,000 by Eden magistrates after their director Richard Hewitson admitted contravening the Health and Safety at Work Act by failing to ensure that persons not in their employment were not exposed to a risk to their safety. The maximum fine possible for such an offence is £20,000. The company was also ordered to pay court costs of nearly £2,900. The court heard that the cage Colin had been in was normally used for transporting vehicle parts and had not been fixed to the end of the forklift and the worker driving it did not have a licence to do so. It was also not the first time this unsafe practice had been used to repair or replace lighting in the workshop. It was only after Mr Gill’s death that bosses implemented stricter rules to ensure the same thing couldn’t happen again. In April 2004 Mr Gill had successfully replaced more than 10 lights before the fatal accident. Tania Van Rixtel, from the Health and Safety Executive, told the court the metal basket placed on the forks was not designed to carry a moving load such as a person. She added, 'Several witnesses admitted driving the truck without receiving proper training.' Miss Van Rixtel said Mr Gill had tried correcting his balance in the cage as it moved but tragically fell 10ft onto a concrete floor before the 85kg (13-and-a-half stone) cage turned upside down and fell on his stomach, According to the Health and Safety Executive, the most common cause of injury in the workplace are falls which result in around 80 deaths a year and 5,000 minor incidents. 'Because of this much guidance is published about how to work at height safely.' She said proof that workers were using the forklift truck without authority showed a 'lax approach to safety' by the firm, which was established in 1975. The safety failings 'should have been stopped by management long before an accident occurred,' she added. 'The risks were foreseeable.' In mitigation, Margaret Payne said if management had known what was occurring it would have been stopped but she did admit there was a 'gap' in procedures, which had now been tightened.
Thomas Edwin Studholme
Thomas was crushed by a half-tonne post driver that he was trying to manoeuvre. He died in hospital after suffering a head injury and internal bleeding in the incident at Nealhouse Farm near Thursby. The inquest was held at North East Cumbria Coroner's Court on Carlisle on 20 May 2004 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. Edwin Studholme, Thomas's son told the hearing that the pair were intending to do some welding to repair the machinery. He said they ultimately wanted to lower the post-driver, which he thought weighed between half a tonne and a tonne, to the floor to carry out the work beside their farmhouse. His father was going to slacken a rope to allow that to happen and was on a ladder beside the 10ft tall machinery when it fell on him. He said, 'I don’t know why it did that. I just jumped (off a small tractor) and tried to lift it. I could not lift it. I tried to prise it a few inches. Mum pulled him out.' The Coroner Ian Morton said Thomas and his son were trying to carry out a relatively straightforward operation and wanted to move the machinery to a more convenient place. They thought it was reasonably stable.
John Scott
John borrowed a feeding machine and was later found dead inside the machine. The inquest was held at North East Cumbria Coroner's Court in Carlisle on 20 May 2005 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.
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Watson Birkett
Watson died when a young cow banged into him, knocking him to the ground and leaving him with serious head injuries. He died the next day in hospital. Three weeks previously, his son Alistair spent a day in intensive care after he suffered a broken jaw while working with cows from the same herd. His widow Isabel said, 'He went out with the beast in the yard and it knocked him to the ground and he hit his head. What started out as a perfect working day ended in tragedy. It happened three weeks to the day after the first accident with our son Alistair.' The inquest was held at North East Cumbria Coroner's Court in Carlisle on 6 June 2005 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.
Joseph Young
Joseph died after falling and banging his head, while helping to de-horn cattle at Grange Farm, Ireby. The inquest was held at North East Cumbria Coroner's Court in Carlisle on 20 May 2005 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.
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David Thompson
David, a joiner, fell from a scaf | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||