18.04.2005

Company fined for lack of lift plan

Deco Marble and Granite Limited of Whitby Ave, Park Royal, London was fined £3,000 at Southwark Crown Court last week, following a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), after an investigation into an incident where a worker was killed on 26 September 2003.

The level of the fine reflected the fact that the company was in liquidation otherwise it would have been in the region of £80,000.


John Martin Dunleavy, 37, was crushed by several stone slabs from a bundle weighing approximately six tonnes, at Deco Marble's yard in Park Royal. The slabs were being unloaded from a delivery lorry by crane when the chains used to lift the load became trapped.

Dunleavy was trying to free the chains when the slabs tipped forward and crushed him.
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Scene of the incident, stone panels stored by leaning against each other and lifted with regular chains.

Deco Marble pleaded guilty to breaching:

• Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act;
• Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; and
• Regulation 8(1) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998.

Following the prosecution, HSE Principal Inspector Mike Gibb said:

"This incident demonstrates the inherent dangers involved in moving and storing large heavy loads such as slabs of stone. Firms receiving deliveries should consider the use of contract lifts where a crane hire firm can plan and coordinate all aspects of the lifting operations.

"All firms using and storing stone slabs should assess the risks from their current storage and handling arrangements. Toast-rack style storage is preferred to prevent toppling of slabs. Inclined A-frames can also be used provided the slabs are secure."



In sentencing, Judge Rivlin QC said "No sum could possibly represent the loss the family have suffered but had the company
been trading, and successfully so, then the potential fine would have been £80,000".

The Judge also expressed surprise that the family had not received any financial compensation. He asked the defendant's solicitors to write to the company's insurance company to speed up settlement of the claim.


1. Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 states that”It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."

2. Regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires employers to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of persons at work.

3. Regulation 8(1) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment regulations 1998 states that "lifting operations should be properly planned, undertaken with appropriate supervision and carried out in a safe manner."

Vertikal Comment:

Thankfully such incidents as this are relatively rare, although it can be argued that as all such incidents are avoidable, there should be none. Such a case as this, which covers the simple unloading of a truck, one assumes a very regular event at such a company, calls for special lifting tackle or stillages to be used. In this case it seems that the company did have a number of stillages for the storage of stone panels but either not enough of them or any alternative equipment for handling stone panels safely.
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Good practice, stone panels stored in pallet type stillages