Deaths in 2003

Click on the names below for further case details

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FURTHER DETAILS OF DEATHS

Thomas Knowles

Thomas, a gamekeeper at the Burton Agnes Estate near Driffield for 12 years, was found dead trapped under a tree on the estate.

The inquest was held at East Riding and Hull Coroner’s Court on 27 October 2003 when an 'Accidental Death' verdict was returned.

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Brian Gibson

Brian, a quantity surveyor working on a building site at the University of Leeds, James Bailey Flats student hall was run over and killed by a reversing telescopic materials handler

The inquest was held at Leeds Coroner’s Court on 4 October 2004 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

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Peter Bellwood

Peter, a lorry driver, was crushed to death at the Finland Terminal in Hull when wooden beams he was loading in his lorry fell and trapped him against its side. The prongs of a forklift truck were too thick to get under a pallet, causing some beams to topple on to Peter.
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The inquest was held at East Riding and Hull Coroner’s Court on 29 October 2004 when an 'Accidental Death' verdict was returned.

In April 2005 Peter's employers Northern Cargo Services, a subsidiary of Associated British Ports, was fined £60,000 with £34,873 costs.

Judge Roger Thorn QC said Peter's death was 'avoidable'. 'You failed to ensure a safe system of work was in place for the loading of glue laminated beams and failed to carry out a risk assessment in relation to the picking up of long-length glue-laminated beams. this accident, in my view, was wholly forseeable.'

Inspector Barry Clinch of the Health and Safety Executive said, 'I hope the message is clear to other companies that health and safety is important, especially as a few very simple actions could have been taken to stop this tragedy, such as splitting the load and someone watching for any danger.'

The firm was fined a total of £4,500 for health and safety law failures that led to the deaths in 1992 of dock worker Michael Devaney and lorry driver Gilbert Walker. Both men were crushed to death by falling steel pipes in separate incidents.

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Jose Rodrigues

Jose, a Portuguese driver, died when he was trapped between two articulated trucks. He had forgotten to put on the brakes in his lorry and was walking back to his cab after checking the linkage when his lorry rolled back and jackknifed trapping him against another vehicle parked next to his.

The inquest was held at West Yorkshire Eastern District Coroner’s Court on 16 June 2003. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

Assistant deputy coroner Alan Benstock, who recorded the verdict said, 'This was a very unfortunate accident. Mr Rodrigues was clearly an experienced lorry driver. There was nothing wrong with the vehicle or the conditions at the service station.'

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Shane Eastwood

Shane, a machine worker, was killed while working underneath a crane at the steel makers Corus UK's Brinsworth site at Rotherham.

A limit switch fitted to the crane was defective, allowing the hoist rope to over-tighten and snap, which caused a 260kg block to fall onto Shane from a height of seven meters. He was pronounced dead at the scene

The inquest was held at South Yorkshire East Coroner’s Court on 25 January 2007 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

In April 2008 at Sheffield Crown Court Corus UK Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act by failing to ensure the safety of an employee. The firm was fined £170,000 and ordered to pay additional costs of £30,000.

Health and safety Executive (HSE) Inspector David Bradley said, 'This was a tragic and entirely avoidable accident. The limit switch fitted to this crane to prevent over-hoisting was a safety critical device. It should have been properly maintained in a safe working condition, and regularly tested. The fact that these simple measures were not taken led to this tragic death.'

Companies should put in place proper safety precautions and procedures to ensure the safety at work of their employees, he added.

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Anthony Bottomley

Anthony, a painter, died when a workman's cradle suspended outside an office block collapsed throwing him and three colleagues four storeys to the ground after a bracket in the right winch mechanism broke.

The inquest was held at South Yorkshire West Coroner’s Court on 3 December 2004 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

After the verdict he coroner, Christopher Dorries, vowed to take 'unprecedented' action to improve safety for high-rise workers. He said he would write to every company in the UK which provides platforms to warn of potential dangers and would also ask the government junior minister responsible for health and safety to consider there should be better guidance about the standard of competence of people allowed to test winch mechanisms. He said, 'This is quite firm and unprecedented action. But if the bracket had broken 10 seconds earlier when it was further up the building we could have been dealing with four deaths at this inquest, instead of one.'

Anthony's colleagues said they didn't know they could use safety harnesses and admitted they never had asked for any. They also said that they never reported the problems with the right side of the walkway to the project manager. One said the problem initially made him feel 'insecure' but he later 'got used to it'.

One of Anthony's colleagues spent months in hospital and now walks with crutches, and another was detained for two weeks.

After the hearing Anthony's brother and sister said they were pleased the coroner had taken such drastic action. His sister, Mary Pemberton, said, 'I'm pleased the coroner is going to contact other companies, I wouldn't want this to happen to anyone else.'

The inquest heard that despite undertaking six-monthly tests no service engineer at Apollo Cradles, the Barnsley firm which supplied the walkway, had spotted the bracket was corroding.

At Sheffield Crown Court in June 2008 Apollo Cradles Ltd was found guilty of breaching health and safety law and in July 2008 was fined £115,000 plus £45,000 costs. At an earlier hearing in Sheffield Magistrates' Court Bradway Construction Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety law and in the Crown Court was fined £25,000 plus £18,000 costs.

HSE Principal Inspector Dave Redman said, 'This is a tragic case involving four men who had never worked in a suspended access cradle before. The incident could have been avoided had Apollo Cradles Ltd ensured that the equipment it was providing was safe and fit for use. By failing to operate an effective maintenance regime and to properly examine the condition of the cradle, they betrayed the trust of workers whose lives depended on them.

'Added to this, the workers were required by their employers, Bradway Construction Ltd, to carry out painting and maintenance at height in a cradle without any training or instruction as to its safe use. This is unacceptable in this day and age - all workers have a right to expect to be trained on how to use the equipment they are working with, and there is plenty of advice and guidance available to employers in the construction industry to help them meet their legal obligations.'

Apollo Cradles Ltd were found guilty of breaching Sections 3(1) and 36 of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Bradway Construction Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work Act.

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Andrew Crossley

Andrew, a kitchen porter at a bakery, died in hospital ten days after being struck by a falling bag of flour.

The inquest was held at West Yorkshire Eastern District Coroner’s Court on 7 October 2004 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

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John Wing

John, a contractor's employee, was working in a cherry picker high in the gantries inside Guardian Glass factory in Goole when he became trapped in the steel and was asphyxiated.

The inquest was held at East Riding and Hull Coroner’s Court on 28 June 2005 when an 'Accidental Death' verdict was returned.

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Andrew Bason

Andrew, a joiner working at the Eggborough Power Station, died of severe head injuries resulting from a fall while carrying out installation work. Andrew fell 70 feet when the staircase on which he was working collapsed.

The inquest was held at North Yorkshire Western District Coroner’s Court on 24 January 2005 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

Managers admitted failing to maintain adequate safety at the power station when faced with charges under the Health and Safety Act. In March 2006 Selby magistrates referred the case to York Crown Court for sentencing.

At York Crown Court In April 2006 Eggborough Power Limited was fined £33,000 for two breaches of safety laws, and ordered to pay £60,000 costs.

The court heard concerns had been raised about the safety of the staircase three months before the accident, but nothing had been done. It also heard there was corrosion on the plant's 40-year-old staircases, but no regular safety checks.

Prosecutor Simon Phillips said, 'At a time when he was either ascending or descending the stairway, it became detached from the landing, with the result that Mr Bason fell 23 metres.'

The stairway was meant to be fixed to a concrete landing by three metal prongs, but these had all come loose. When Andrew died 12 weeks later, the stair had still not been checked.

Kate Thirlwall QC, for the company, said it and its individual directors felt a 'real sense of responsibility' for the incident. She said since the accident, the firm had revolutionised its safety systems.

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Ben Randall

Ben, a 21-year-old sports studies student at Huddersfield University, died in Roundhay Park, Leeds. He was among workers helping to dismantle security fencing after a community bonfire and died when a fork-lift truck driven by a colleague, John Anthony Hindle, toppled on top of him.

Mr Hindle, a permanent employee, had lost control of the vehicle while reversing down a steep slope, having allowed Ben and another worker to hitch a lift. He appeared at Leeds Crown Court on 11 August 2005 and admitted causing death by dangerous driving. Mr Hindle was sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two years. He was also banned from driving and ordered to pay £1,425 costs.

Judge James Stewart told Mr Hindle that such cases normally involved custody, but this was an exception. 'In my judgement you were not deliberately driving dangerously,' he said.

The court heard that Hindle had told Leeds Council he was certified to drive the fork-lift truck when he was not.

Event Services were fined £18,000 for breaking health and safety regulations at a separate hearing.

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Adrian Bowden

Adrian, a delivery driver from Caerphilly, was crushed by his own lorry when delivering at Linpac Plastics at Featherstone.

The inquest was held at West Yorkshire Eastern District Coroner’s Court on 3 February 2005 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

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Gareth Stanley

Gareth died when he was struck by two vehicles at Birkham Wood on the A658 Harrogate bypass.

The inquest was held at North Yorkshire Western District Coroner’s Court on 26 January 2005 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

In December 2006 at Harrogate Magistrates Court three companies digging trenches for cable laying beside the bypass admitted responsibility for the death.

Deputy District Judge Richard Manning heard how Gareth, son of Michael Stanley, managing director of Stanley Land Drainage, had been struck by two cars as he attempted to hold up traffic on the Harrogate and Knaresborough southern bypass so a digger could be taken to a compound on a nearby farm for the night.

Stanley Land Drainage of Crow Royd Farm, North Moor Lane, Kirkheaton, Huddersfield, pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the health and safety of employees. Another sub-contractor, pipeline specialists JFD Utility Services, of Balme Road, Cleckheaton, and main contractors ABB Ltd, of Daresbury, Warrington, each pleaded guilty to failing to ensure those carrying out the work and motorists were not exposed to risks to their safety.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecutor Michael Elliker said ABB was responsible for the electrical infrastructure at St James' Retail Park beside the bypass at Knaresborough.
The other two companies had been called in because a 1,700-metre trench was needed on the north side verge.

Gareth Stanley, of Sunnybank Road, Mirfield, had been one of those working there on December 1, 2003, when he had been stopping traffic. He was struck by one car and knocked across the road into the path of another.

Stanley's counsel Richard Kovalevsky said there had been several requests from Michael Stanley to North Yorkshire County Council, as highways authority, for temporary traffic lights to be installed. They had been rejected. The county council had made its ruling because it was not envisaged that anyone on the site would have to stand in the carriageway. Without lights, the only way vehicles could reach their compound had been to move into gaps in the line of traffic.

Mr Kovalevsky said, 'Mr Stanley is left with the deep, deep sense that there has been a significant failing and unfairness in these proceedings. And it is a terrible irony that when this job carried on the local authority insisted there were traffic lights.'

Fining each company £18,000 the judge said Gareth Stanley had agreed to watch the digger driver carry out 'a dangerous manoeuvre'. He also awarded costs of £11,328.96 against ABB, £11,840.96 against JFD and £11,191.96 against Stanley's.

The judge said an inquest had been told by a county council witness that is would have been safer to have traffic lights even if the whole of the work had been carried out on the verge. So the authority must have been aware of the significant risk posed by on-site activities. The jury had considered temporary lights should have been in place from the beginning.

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Michael Broughton

Michael. a ground worker on a Clugston construction site in Doncaster, died after being hit by cement.

The inquest was to be held at South Yorkshire East Coroner’s Court.

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Geoffrey Butler

Geoffrey fell and died when delivering plant to a site where tennis courts were being resurfaced. The principal contractors were Bernhard Landscapes Ltd of Wakefield.

The inquest was held at West Yorkshire Eastern District Coroner’s Court on 8 November 2004 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.

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