07.01.2015

Ignored risk assessment costs £15,917

UK contractor European Active Projects has been fined £15,000 plus costs of £917 after exposing agency workers it was employing to unnecessary danger while rigging and lifting containers at Chatham Docks.

Photographs of the lift were sent to the Health & Safety Executive last February by a member of public, showing a man at a height of approximately 10 metres attaching chain legs to a container being lifted by an All Terrain crane owned by Baldwins Crane Hire. A second man was working at a lower level, around four metres up. Nothing was in place to prevent either of them from falling.

An investigation revealed that a risk assessment and a method statement clearly stated that each container would be secured by an operator working from a boom lift. When the time came, the company said that it was unable to source a boom lift and resorted to using unfooted, unsecured ladders to access the containers.
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The risk assessment and method statement clearly stated that each container would be secured by an operator working from a boom lift

Prior to the incident European Active Projects had received written advice stating that the company needed to improve the planning and organisation of its lifting operations after an investigation into a serious incident involving a lifting operation.

HSE inspector Joanne Williams said: “The dangers of falling, and quite possibly sustaining fatal injuries, were very real and highlighted quite dramatically in the photos that were taken. The company had a plan but then totally ignored it as soon as it became clear a mobile boom couldn’t be sourced in time. It failed to provide any suitable measures to make sure the container structure could be erected safely and allowed dangerous practices to take place on site.”

Vertikal Comment

One has to assume that this was straight crane hire job, and that the full management of the lift was carried out by European Active Projects. The excuse that a boom lift could not be procured is particularly weak, and if true, simply reflects poor planning.