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Deaths in 2001
Deaths in 2001
Deaths in 2002
Click on the names below for further case details
Click on the names below for further case details
Deaths in 2005 Deaths in 2006
FURTHER DETAILS OF DEATHS
Alan Edmunds
Alan, a city caravan park owner, died at the Kings Acre Halt Caravan Park site after he drowned in a sewage drain that he was trying to unblock. The inquest was held at Herefordshire Coroner’s Court on 11 March 2002. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. Health and Safety Executive officer, Hugh Emment, agreed that Mr Edmunds would have fallen in headfirst. He said the drain wall had bowed in on one side and together with the sloping ground outside, his movements would have been restricted. The blockage was caused by the roots of a nearby tree. Alan would normally have attempted such a job with a colleague. Summing up, Deputy Coroner, Mark Bricknell, said it had been a sad and unfortunate accident. He confirmed that Mr Edmunds had drowned.
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to Table (2006) Evan Bryan Millward
Evan, a timber worker at a builders yard, was found unconcious after a fall from a mezzanine storage platform which resulted in severe head injuries and a fractured skull. He was flown by air ambulance to Bristol's Frenchay hospital where he later died. An Environmental Health Officer told the inquest that exhaustive tests on the wooden steps could not find a reason for the fall. He said that FJ Williams were compliant with workplace safety and could not have done anything to avoid the incident. The inquest was held at Herefordshire Coroner’s Court on 6 August
2002. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.
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to Table (2006) Kevin Butterton
Kevin, a SAS soldier died during a live fire training exercise in Oman when he was hit in the head by shrapnel from a mortar shell. An inquest took place at Herefordshire Coroner’s Court in July 2003 and the jury returned a verdict of 'Accidental Death'. The Coroner David Halpern said the evidence suggested that Sgt Butterton's death was the result of a communication mix-up between two mortar operators. As a consequence of the mix-up one of the artillery guns was trained on the position where Keith and his colleagues were attacking from, instead of a line of imaginary mortars positioned 200m away.
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to Table (2006) Evan Hughes
Evan, a self-employed mixed farmer, was killed when he fell off a ladder while cleaning a barn. An inquest took place at Herefordshire Coroner’s Court on 25 March 2003 when the jury returned a verdict of 'Accidental Death'.
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to Table (2006) James Plater
James, a vehicle recovery worker, was underneath a broken down lorry on the A40 carrying out repairs when another vehicle shunted into the vehicle crushing him. No inquest took place since the police laid driving charges against the driver.
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to Table (2006) Keith Jones
Keith, a steel erector, died when he fell over 50 feet while working on the erection of a new warehouse for M & M Sports. He had gone up in a cherry picker to work on the steel frame. The inquest was held at Herefordshire Coroner’s Court on 11 December 2003 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. The inquest heard how the experienced steel erector was not wearing a safety harness while working in a cherry picker crane basket 50ft above the ground. The harness - when clipped to the basket - would have stopped Keith's subsequent fall. Keith was putting a bolt or pole joint in place when he fell from the picker, suffering a serious head injury. None of Keith' three-strong sub-contract crew had their harnesses on; they heard only an `horrific thud' as their boss hit the ground. Crew members, the inquest heard, were in cherry picker cranes working on the warehouse's steel frame over a Sunday morning - without telling either of the two companies responsible for overall health and safety supervision. One of the crew, Michael Negri said in evidence that the team would only wear their `uncomfortable and restrictive' harnesses when Keith insisted on it. Otherwise, he said, it was `understood' that they were optional. Mr Negri was up in a cherry picker with Keith when the incident occurred and told of trying to grab Keith as he went down. Keith, he said, may have been `over-reaching' while standing on the middle bar of the basket. Other evidence outlined Keith's not wearing a harness as out-of-character for a self-employed man of experience. The principal contractors had no issues with Keith's stance on health and safety and, during site visits, he and his team were seen working `safely and consistently' with helmets, harnesses and other appropriate kit. But there was no need for the team to be working that Sunday said David Thomas, managing director of Leominster based building contractors GP Thomas & Son. The project, said Mr Thomas, was well on time. Health and Safety inspector David Bagnall said cherry pickers were hard to fall from if harnesses were being worn. It was Mr Bagnall's supposition that the crew `might just have let their normal standards slip' that morning. County Coroner David Halpern told the jury that an accidental death verdict was appropriate if it decided, on the evidence, that Keith had fallen while `stretching that extra inch'.
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to Table (2006) Stuart Jordan and Richard Clarkson
Richard Clarkson, a maintenance engineer and Stuart, works manager, were repairing a cooling fan at Bodycote HIP Ltd's site at College Road, Hereford. They were found unconscious in a deep pit and later died. Argon gas was believed to be present in the pit. The inquest was held at Herefordshire Coroner’s Court from 30 January to the 1 February 2006 when the jury returned a verdict of 'Unlawful Killing'. The jury decided that the deaths were due to 'gross negligence' in the way the company enforced safety standards. Case papers were sent to the police and Crown Prosecution Service. The Health and Safety Executive was studying the verdict and what it meant for national workplace policy. County coroner David Halpern praised employees of the College Road plant for their 'honest' accounts of how safety standards were routinely flouted and rarely enforced - evidence that was sometimes against their own interests, he said. That evidence concerned an 'everything's OK' attitude over-riding safety procedures at the plant when the deaths occurred. The inquest heard how company policy made Mr Jordan - as works manager - directly responsible for risk assessment on the site but he had not been given any training in the role. Senior management regarded works managers as "experts" on their own sites and took their word on trust when checking on health and safety compliance. Problems left out of a works manager's report would not be picked up. Alan Smith, responsible for overall health and safety at Bodycote's 24 UK sites said, in evidence, that it was 'not practical' for him to assess the hundreds of procedures on each site. 'We rely on those who know the processes,' he said. But the inquest heard evidence from other bosses that said no checks were made on works managers to ensure they were meeting risk assessment responsibilities - or were capable of meeting them given their workload. The inquest heard how Mr Jordan had a 'very full' job description that he worked hard to meet. Brian Birch, Bodycote's international director for health and safety compliance, said that the company now knew that it could not rely on works managers being 'wholly open' with risk assessment audits. Stuart and Richard were overcome by argon gas that had filled a pit containing a furnace vessel in which metal processing took place. Argon - colourless, odourless and heavier than air - was used in refining. The inquest heard how it could be deadly in confined spaces by displacing oxygen and causing suffocation. A leak had filled the pit with argon when Stuart and Richard went down to it. The sensors and alarms that would have warned the men were not working, the jury heard, nor were the fans that would have dispelled the gas. The pair had not filled out permit sheets that would have shown safety checks had been made. Neither was carrying a personal monitor alerting them to unsafe oxygen levels. Employee evidence outlined how few permits for pit work were filled out, alarms were often switched off when they sounded and monitors were not carried. Training in safety procedures came down to word-of-mouth and 'accepted practice' on the shopfloor. Nor was there any recollection of safety checks by senior management. The inquest was told that, since the deaths, new and strictly enforced safety measures were in place at the plant.
Back
to Table (2006) Andrew Pursey
Andrew of Trevase, near St Weonards died in a farming incident when he was crushed between a tractor and a fertiliser spinner as he transferred fertiliser from one tractor to another. Andrew had been working alone at isolated Bettws Court, Orcop where he was found by his father and sister. He had just graduated from Reading University with a 2:1 degree in agriculture and business management. The inquest was held at Herefordshire Coroner’s Court on 26 January 2005 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. At the inquest in Hereford it was revealed that Andrew had failed to put on the park brake and died from acute hypoxia due to a compression injury. His father Roger Pursey, who found his son said Andrew was an experienced farmer. 'Andrew had been around that kind of machinery all his life and had passed his tractor test,' he said. Mr Pursey explained that emptying fertiliser bags was a quick job and that his son was probably trying to do too much too quickly. 'I think he was just trying to get as much done as possible before he went away for a year travelling around Australia with his friends,' he added. Accident investigator PC Nigel Phillips said that although the rough concrete surface appeared to be level at the site, tests proved the tractors could still jolt forward. PC Phillips explained that once the Massey Ferguson tractor had started moving, Andrew would have had only a split second to react. County Coroner David Halpern said Andrew's misjudgment in thinking that there was no need to put on the park brake for such a simple job had disastrous consequences. In recording a verdict of accidental death, he said, 'I obviously hold many inquests and many of them are about tragic incidents. But I think this is a specifically tragic case. It would be wrong to criticise Andrew as the flat surface lulled him into a false sense of security.'
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to Table (2001) Back
to Table (2006) Ian Jackson
Ian was visiting RE Williams abattoir in Weobley, Herefordshire to assess its hygiene standards, when he was attacked by a heifer. He sustained multiple injuries and was airlifted to Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham where he died hours later. The abattoir's chief, David Williams said that the cow was delivered to his plant on a lorry. 'When we opened the back gates, the animal had mounted an inner gate. Its head and chest were up in the air and we couldn't shut the lorry doors. It crushed the gate inside the lorry. I tried to stop it but it barged past me and got out. Mr Jackson was out in the yard and he tried to turn it around but the beast pushed into him and crushed his head against a lorry. His injuries were very severe." The inquest will be held at the Herefordshire Coroner's Court on a date yet to be set.
Back
to Table (2006) Gordon Campbell
Gordon, a lance-corporal in the Royal Marines Assault Group, fell to his death during a helicoter abseiling exercise, called 'fast roping', at the Pontrilas Army Training Area near Hereford. The inquest will be held at the Herefordshire Coroner's Court on a date yet to be set.
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