15.11.2009

Fatal accident costs £106,000

UK ship repair yard A&P Falmouth, has been hit with £106,500 in fines and costs following a fatal crane accident in August 2006.

Painter John Datson, 51, was crushed between a crane and an aerial lift which it was being lifting aboard the Royal Navy auxiliary Mounts Bay.

Datson had been helping to guide the platform as it was lifted onto the ship, however, it hung up on the chassis of the crane, causing him and a colleague to move in to try and free it.

The two succeeded but the lift, having swung away from the crane, swung back, crushing Datson against the crane’s chassis. He died immediately from his injuries.

Truro Crown Court, handed down an £85,000 fine and ordered the company to pay £21,508 in court costs. The company had admitted failing to introduce a safe system of work, especially with regard to the provision of sufficient information, instruction, training and supervision for employees using lifting equipment.

Recorder Donald Tait said: "I make it clear that no blame whatsoever can be attached to Mr Datson. But he should not have been where he was. There was no one person present in overall command and, in what I view as a spirit of co-operation, those present mucked in to get the job done.”

"It was a routine lift and the last of a number of successful lifts done that day. I accept this company does not and never has taken a cavalier attitude to health and safety – if it did the penalty would be significantly higher."

The court heard that while Datson had not been formally trained in lifting, he was not inexperienced, having been involved in such operations around 300 times a year.

Counsel David Morgan, for the company, stressed their health and safety ethos and said it was the first yard in Europe to hold three major qualifications relating to health and safety and environmental health management systems at the same time.