Six-Figure Fine Following Health And Safety Breach

Health and safety officials have said a Corus worker was "extremely lucky" not to suffer serious injuries after a mobile crane collapsed at a Yorkshire steel works.

The steel giant has been fined £100,000 over the incident, which took place to Aldwarke Steel Works in Rotherham on September 4, 2008.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how safe working load alarms designed to alert the operator when the crane is overloaded were not activated due to a lack of training.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought about the prosecution, said there had been a "substantial failure" of training procedures on Corus's part, which led to the incident.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Geoff Clark said: "This is a serious health and safety breach by a company that globally employs tens of thousands of people which could easily have led to people being killed. The operator was extremely lucky to escape with only minor injuries.

"In this case the measures in place were simply inadequate, in particular, there was a substantial failure to provide enough suitable training."

Corus UK Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was ordered to pay £9,908.50 costs.

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David Urpeth from law firm Irwin Mitchell said: “I welcome the fine imposed following this very serious work accident.

“Falls from height or injuries caused by falling objects remain a major category of serious or fatal accidents.

“To ensure workers are protected from injury or death following an accident at work, training is vital.  Sadly, in this case, Corus failed in their duty to provide sufficient training and this, in part, led to the serious work accident.

“In many cases, I have to assist workers to pursue their compensation claim following injuries that they have sustained following an industrial accident.”