Deaths in 2001
Deaths in 2001
Deaths in 2002 Click on the names below for further case details
Click on the names below for further case details
Deaths in 2005
Deaths in 2006
FURTHER DETAILS OF DEATHS
Calvin Hughes
Calvin, a maintenance fitter, was killed by the failure of a fork-lift truck prong which broke off and struck him on the head. The inquest was held at Worcestershire Coroner’s Court in April 2002. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. The court heard that he had been trying to mend a machine. A conveyor on a hot cropping machine had broken overnight and when Calvin started his shift the next morning it was his job to fix it. The Health and Safety (HSE) inspector, Thomas Treble, said that Calvin had been fitting an output chute because the conveyor was broken. The broken conveyor was removed by the forklift truck and Calvin brought the chute across the room on an overhead crane. He tried to swing the chute into place three or four times but it would not go because there was a big flywheel in the way. Calvin then took the chute off the overhead crane and attached it to the right blade of a forklift truck with a piece of rope. The jury heard that the blade got snagged in the machinery and broke. Mr Treble stated that the blade had a flaw in it - constant fluctuations in the weight of the forklift's load had caused the flaw to grow. By the time of the incident the defect was about 4inchesThe jury heard that forklift trucks should be inspected annually to detect flaws in it but there was no evidence that this had taken place before the incident.
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Deaths of Satish Kumar, Soran Karim and Islam Uddin Ahmed
Satish, Soran and Islam, who were immigrant casual farm workers, were killed when the driver
of their minibus went across an unmanned level crossing and the bus was
hit by an oncoming train. The driver Adnan Kadir Karim, an Iraqi asylum seeker was taking the group to work in fields near Evesham in Worcestershire when the vehicle was hit on a level crossing at about 90mph. The court had heard how Karim did not have a British or an Iraqi driving licence and had been told how the defendant, who was unable to read English, did not take account of safety features on the unmanned crossing at Pools Crossing, Ryden Lane in Charlton. They were designed to allow people and vehicles to pass safely and included stop signs and a telephone linked to the signal box at Evesham. Karim, who had denied three counts of manslaughter by criminal negligence, was jailed for five years on each of the three charges. The sentences were to run concurrently. He was also banned from driving for two years. Speaking after the case, Detective Chief Inspector David Lester of British Transport Police said the train had struck the van only a glancing blow, which spared the lives of several passengers in the vehicle. 'If he had gone onto the crossing a bit further, you could have had 10 people dead in that van. There were 150 people on the train and it could have been a hell of a lot worse. The defendant couldn't read English but it was obvious that it was a warning sign and he ignored it. This incident goes to show how important it for motorists to respect the railway and adhere to warning signs.'
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Harry Underwood
Harry was killed when a lorry and a forklift truck collided at a Halfords depot on the Washford Industrial Estate. Jason Traynor, the lorry driver, was accused of Harry's manslaughter and stood trial at at Wolverhampton Crown Court in August 2005. Harry was carrying away loads of waste paper on his fork-lift while Traynor was driving a lorry used to move round large loads. Traynor was intending to make a 360 degree turn, but he collided with the fork-lift which toppled over and Harry, who suffered a broken back, died at the scene. After his arrest Traynor told investigating police officers he simply had not seen the fork-lift truck when he decided to make the turn. But another driver working in the yard told the jury he was 25 yards behind the lorry and he had no visibility problems. He also felt Traynor had carried on regardless with his manoeuvre and hit the truck. Jason Traynor must have seen Harold Underwood, but he 'disregarded' him, alleged Stephen Thomas prosecuting. He said Harry must have been in Traynor’s line of vision as Traynor denied the manslaughter charges. On 10 August 2005 all charges were dropped. The inquest was to be held at Worcestershire Coroner’s Court.
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to Table (2006) Stuart Jordan and Richard Clarkson
Richard Clarkson, a maintenance engineer and Stuart, works manager, were repairing a cooling fan at Bodycote HIP Ltd's site at College Road, Hereford. They were found unconscious in a deep pit and later died. Argon gas was believed to be present in the pit. The inquest was held at Herefordshire Coroner’s Court from 30 January to the 1 February 2006 when the jury returned a verdict of 'Unlawful Killing'. The jury decided that the deaths were due to 'gross negligence' in the way the company enforced safety standards. Case papers were sent to the police and Crown Prosecution Service. The Health and Safety Executive was studying the verdict and what it meant for national workplace policy. County coroner David Halpern praised employees of the College Road plant for their 'honest' accounts of how safety standards were routinely flouted and rarely enforced - evidence that was sometimes against their own interests, he said. That evidence concerned an 'everything's OK' attitude over-riding safety procedures at the plant when the deaths occurred. The inquest heard how company policy made Stuart - as works manager - directly responsible for risk assessment on the site but he had not been given any training in the role. Senior management regarded works managers as 'experts'' on their own sites and took their word on trust when checking on health and safety compliance. Problems left out of a works manager's report would not be picked up. Alan Smith, responsible for overall health and safety at Bodycote's 24 UK sites said, in evidence, that it was 'not practical' for him to assess the hundreds of procedures on each site. 'We rely on those who know the processes,' he said. But the inquest heard evidence from other bosses that said no checks were made on works managers to ensure they were meeting risk assessment responsibilities - or were capable of meeting them given their workload. The inquest heard how Stuart had a 'very full' job description that he worked hard to meet. Brian Birch, Bodycote's international director for health and safety compliance, said that the company now knew that it could not rely on works managers being 'wholly open' with risk assessment audits. Stuart and Richard were overcome by argon gas that had filled a pit containing a furnace vessel in which metal processing took place. Argon - colourless, odourless and heavier than air - was used in refining. The inquest heard how it could be deadly in confined spaces by displacing oxygen and causing suffocation. A leak had filled the pit with argon when Stuart and Richard went down to it. The sensors and alarms that would have warned the men were not working, the jury heard, nor were the fans that would have dispelled the gas. The pair had not filled out permit sheets that would have shown safety checks had been made. Neither was carrying a personal monitor alerting them to unsafe oxygen levels. Employee evidence outlined how few permits for pit work were filled out, alarms were often switched off when they sounded and monitors were not carried. Training in safety procedures came down to word-of-mouth and 'accepted practice' on the shopfloor. Nor was there any recollection of safety checks by senior management. The inquest was told that, since the deaths, new and strictly enforced safety measures were in place at the plant. In January 2008 the High Court overturned the 'Unlawful Killing' verdict and ruled that there would be a new inquest into these two cases. They were transferred to Worcestershire Coroner's Court.
David Phillips
David, a farm worker, was killed when the tractor he was driving toppled over and crushed him The inquest was held at Worcestershire Coroner’s Court on 21 April 2005 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.
Back
to Table (2006) Barrie Heath
Barrie Heath, a farmer aged 72, died in a farming accident on 4 February 2005. He was driving a tractor on his son's farm when it fell into a slurry pit and crushed him. Barrie got off the tractor, which was parked on the edge of a slurry lagoon, and went round the back to attend to the impeller, a propeller -like attachment on the back of the tractor. The tractor slipped into the lagoon taking Barrie with it. His son, Chris, discovered him and tried to pull him from the pit by climbing on the sinking tractor, but to no avail. Firefighters and specialists with lifting equipment were called to pull the tractor out. The inquest was held at Worcestershire Coroner’s Court on 16 May 2005 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. After the tractor had slipped into the pit, photos taken show that a concrete base, which would provide a steady surface for the braking mechanism of the tractor, had been damaged. A report by the Health and Safety Executive said, 'It is not known whether this concrete gave way and allowed the tractor to roll into the lagoon, or whether the damage was caused by the tractor `bottoming out' as it slid into the lagoon, or whether the damage was caused by the recovery operation as the tractor was dragged out of the lagoon.' But Coroner Victor Round could be certain that Mr Heath was a `fit person' and there could be no other cause of death than multiple crush injuries from the tractor.
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