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Deaths
in 2001
Deaths in 2001
Deaths in 2002
Click on the names below for further case details
FURTHER
DETAILS OF DEATHS Fredrick Hodgson
Fredrick, a farmer, was driving a tractor which went into a dyke, overturned and crushed him to death. The inquest was held at Louth Coroner’s Court on 24 August 2001. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. Elsie Barker
Elsie, a resident of a nursing home, died as a result of a fall which left her with a fractured rib, bruised heart and cardiac contusion. The inquest was held at Lincoln Coroner’s Court on 2 October 2001. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. Anthony Donald Endean
Anthony, a self-employed roofer, had bee sub-contracted to fit a new roof with insulation over the existing roof of a barn. The existing roof had become brittle with age. Anthony fell through a rooflight, struck a trailer and died as a result of severe head injuries. The inquest was held at Sleaford Coroner’s Court on 31 January 2002. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. The hearing was told by Health and Safety specialist inspector Paul Thomas that since 1986 there had been 600 fatal accidents in the UK through cement fibre roof sheeting. Stanley George Stubbs
Stanley, an agricultural worker, was driving a caterpillar tractor towing a cultivator in a field with a slope. He stopped to remove some concrete when the tractor moved down the slope. The cultivator ran him over killing him. The inquest was held at Lincoln/Sleaford Coroner’s Court on 31 January 2002. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. Steven Hughes
Steven, a dumper truck driver, was drowned when his truck rolled into the River Witham and overturned trapping him under water. Steven had been moving earth to strengthen flood walls on the riverbank when the incident occurred. The inquest was held at Lincoln Coroner’s Court from 11 to 13 December 2002. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. The inquest at Lincoln Crown Court was told a passing colleague noticed his truck was submerged, but was unable to rescue him. The vehicle had completely overturned and trapped Steven under the water. Firefighters pulled him from the wreckage and he was taken by ambulance to Lincoln County Hospital, but attempts to resuscitate him failed. The jury took an hour to return their verdict. It recommended that dumper trucks with cabs should be used for such work and workers should not be allowed to operate alone next to water. In January 2004 at Lincoln County Court, the Environment Agency was fined £150,000 for breaches of Health and Safety at Work Act regulations. Bernard Thoroughgood, prosecuting, said the agency had been planning to use lighter trucks but none were available for hire locally. Steven had not been trained to drive the front loading dumper and safe routes for the truck were not in place. The Environment Agency admitted breaching Health and Safety at Work Act regulations as a result of the fatal accident. Mark Harris, defending, expressed the agency's 'profound regret and apology' for the tragedy.
Paul Christopher Langfield
Paul, a warehouseman at a cold storage, was killed when a pallet bearing a tonne of frozen chickens fell off a reversing forklift truck onto him as he stood in a passage at the facility. The inquest was held at Grantham Coroner’s Court on 19 September 2002. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. The hearing was told there were no faults with the forklift and the driver was fully trained. After the verdict, jurors added a recommendation to be passed to the Health and Safety Executive regarding the way pallets are stored and moved.
Brian Victor Parkes
Brian, a maintenance fitter working at a nursing home, was found dead by staff slumped on his right side in the entrance to his work shed. The pathway was very icy. The inquest was held at Louth Coroner’s Court on 30 January 2002. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. Peter Anderson
Peter, a forklift truck driver, was killed as a result of severe head injuries at his place of work. The inquest was held at Boston and Spalding Coroner’s Court on 6 December 2002. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. Anthony Houghton
Anthony, the operator of the Sea Aquarium ride at Fantasy Island Theme Park in Skegness, was involved in an accident and rushed to hospital where he was declared dead. Anthony had only been working at the complex in Ingoldmells for about a week. He was operating a boat ride when he fell into the water. Attempts to resuscitate him failed and he was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital in Skegness. Police said it was believed he died of natural causes The inquest
was to be held at Spilsby Coroner’s Court.
Kevin Chamberlain
Kevin, a farmer, was run over at Gallows Dale Farm by a tractor he borrowed from his neighbour and was crushed to death. Kevin tried to restart the 1949 tractor with a faulty starting motor and failed to take it out of gear and apply the brakes. The inquest was held at Lincoln Coroner’s Court on 16 April 2003. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. Rebecca Davies
Rebecca, a stable girl at James Given's the racing trainer, was killed when she was thrown while riding in a group of 16 riders and dragged for almost a quarter of a mile before a fellow rider managed to catch and stop her horse. The incident was precipitated when the horse in front of her suddenly collapsed causing her horse to jump sideways thereby unseating her. Her foot became trapped in the stirrup and she was pulled along the hard surface of the exercise ground, leaving her with fatal injuries including rib and sternum fractures. The inquest
was held at Lincoln Coroner’s Court on 28 August 2003. A verdict
of 'Accidental Death' was returned. The Coroner said he did not see a need to make safety recommendations.
Gary Birkett
Gary died from massive head injuries after a chain attached to heavy equipment at Corus steel works snagged. The inquest was held at North Lincolnshire and Grimsby Coroner’s Court on 2 October 2003. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. The hearing was told that Gary had been helping colleagues move a piece of heavy equipment for refurbishment with the use of an overhead crane. During this manoeuvre the chain snagged causing a slide bar actuator mechanism weighing 37kg to fall on Gary. Bolts holding this piece of equipment in place had been removed prior to the removal of the equipment. Team leader Andrew Brown said the chain snagging was not regarded as a safety issue and was not reported as such. Crane drive John Grantham, who had been assisting with the manoeuvre was known on the site for repeatedly telling workers not to approach the equipment while the crane was still moving. Following the incident Corus changed the way in which they carry out this procedure and sent their employees on a new training course. However the Coroner Stewart Atkinson stressed the need to carry out more risk assessments before an incident rather than afterwards. John Smith
John, a shot blaster working for a firm providing site services, was killed while working on a steel structure when a girder fell on him. The inquest was held at Grantham Coroner’s Court on 19 August 2003 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. John Gilroy
John, a worker from Leeds, sustained injuries on 20 February 2003 when a fire broke out on while he was carrying out routine maintenance on road machinery at Colas Ltd. He received 60% burns and was taken to Grantham Hospital before being moved to Selly Oak Hospital, where he died twelve days later. The inquest was held at Lincoln Coroner’s Court on 24 April 2004 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. In May 2005 Colas Ltd was fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £22,000 costs by Lincoln Crown Court. The firm admitted breaching Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of John and his colleague Phillip Kelly whilst they were cleaning a bitumen tanker at the company's Grantham depot. John was cleaning the bitumen spraying bar at the back of the tanker with a mixture of kerosene, gas oil, and diesel, which ignited. Phillip received superficial burns to his face and head. The HSE investigation concluded that the fire was caused by the ignition of a flammable mist of kerosene and gas oil, probably by static electricity. HSE inspector Jon Anslow, who investigated the incident, said, 'This was a tragic and avoidable incident. The company failed to control even simple sources of ignition, such as smoking or hot working. Importantly, if a liquid was used rather than a spray, no flammable mist would have been created, and this could have prevented the incident. 'This case emphasises the importance for employers to assess and plan work with dangerous substances. Sensible health and safety is about managing risks. This need not be costly, it's just a matter of thinking jobs through and anticipating hazards. 'Employers must also make sure employees are properly trained and have the proper equipment to deal with danger.'
Michael Wallace
Michael, a lorry driver, had been transporting steel to Steel Centre 4 Ltd in Scunthorpe. While helping the steel company workers to to secure the steel bundles for lifting by cranes Michael fell from the top of the lorry. He died from massive head injuries. The inquest was held at North Lincolnshire and Grimsby Coroner’s Court on 2 October 2003. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. The inquest heard that when Michael arrived the forklift truck normally used to unload his lorry was not working. Instead workers had to take the goods off his vehicle using remote overhead cranes. Michael decided to help with the unloading. Coroner Stewart Atkinson said, 'He only fell six feet, which shows it does not need to be 20-30 ft to cause serious harm.' He added that everyone should learn from the incident: they should take extra precautions and not put themselves at risk in the workplace. Alan Smith
Alan died after becoming trapped between the buffers of railway wagon - being pushed by a slow moving train - and another parked wagon. Alan was working as process operator, shouting directions to train drive Rick O'Connell, along a private track at the Humber Refinery. The inquest was held at North Lincolnshire and Grimsby Coroner’s Court on 15 January 2004. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. The inquest heard that another wagon was parked unsafely on the track spur, 'fouling' the points. Workers would sometimes duck beneath the buffers of moving trains and wagons even though they were not supposed to. The Health and Safety Executive decided that Alan's death was mainly caused by his going between the buffers of the moving train. A combination of factors - including the fouled points - led to Alan's death according to the coroner Stewart Atkinson, but this reinforced the need for safety procedures to be followed. Mr Atkinson urged workers and managers to continue a dialogue to ensure safety was made of paramount importance.
Warren Peacock
Warren, was working as a tallyman at the Exxtor terminal at Immingham Docks. It was his job to instruct the drivers of reach stacker vehicles to lift metal containers ready to be loaded onto lorries and ships. The inquest was held at North Lincolnshire and Grimsby Coroner’s Court on 1 July 2004. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. The inquest heard how Warren and Ian Portess, a stacker vehicle driver, were well aware of how the 80-tonne vehicles moved, and there was a 'rear swing danger' when they were being manoeuvred. Lorry driver Barry Saint saw Warren being struck by the vehicle's rear wheel. He told the court that Warren had told Ian Portess to stack one container on top of another. 'I think he moved then, but he didn't move away enough,' said Mr Saint. 'He moved, and he was looking down at his clipboard.' Coroner Stewart Atkinson said, 'Whatever work you are doing, safety must come first. We need to warn people of that. I have seen it all too often - a man is getting on with his work and loses track of what is going on around him.' Jim Stancliffe, representing the Health and Safety Executive said port operators ABP and ABP Connect who contracted the Humber Workforce employees had since introduced a number of risk assessment procedures. Warren's parents called for more safety officers to be on site saying that it was a very dangerous job and becoming more so because of the increased volume of traffic. |
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