Cheshire car parts maker fined over crane injuries

Published HSE:March 2011

A Cheshire motor component manufacturer has been sentenced after a worker was injured when a 31-tonne load was dropped from an overhead crane.

The company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at its factory on 21 May 2009.

Chester Crown Court heard that the injured man and two other employees were working the night shift when chains on the overhead crane gave way. Part of the crane was pulled from roof mountings and fell nearly five metres to the ground. The crane's hook landed on his left leg, shattering his thigh bone.

The 43-year-old had to have a metal rod inserted in his leg as a result of his injuries. His two colleagues escaped unharmed.

The subsequent HSE investigation found the chains were only designed to lift a maximum of 17 tonnes - just over half the weight of the load - and the crane itself was only capable of lifting a 27-tonne load.

The company admitted failing to ensure the lifting capacity of the chains was clearly marked, and failing to look after the safety of its workers. The company was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £8,792 in prosecution costs on 31 March.

Martin Paren, the investigating inspector at HSE, said:

"A worker has been badly injured as a result of this completely avoidable incident, but the consequences could easily have been catastrophic. It's incredible no one was killed.

"The company regularly expected its workers to lift loads well over the lifting capacities of both the chains and the overhead crane. It was only a matter of time before something went wrong, which is why they are in court today.

"Lifting capacities exist for a reason and it's vital that manufacturers who use overhead cranes make sure employees aren't put a risk from falling loads."

The company was charged with breaching Regulation 7(a) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, and Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

A total of 25 workers were killed and more than 4,000 suffered major injuries in the manufacturing industry in Great Britain last year. Information on preventing injuries is available at www.hse.gov.uk/manufacturing

Notes to editors

• The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to prevent death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training, new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
• Regulation 7(a) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 states: "Every employer shall ensure that...machinery and accessories for lifting loads are clearly marked to indicate their safe working loads."
• Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."

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