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Deaths in 2001
Deaths in 2001
Back to Top Deaths in 2002
FURTHER DETAILS OF DEATHS
Stephen Jones
Stephen,
a process worker, was strangled by his paper overalls when he was drawn
underneath a roof-tile making machine whilst undertaking last minute safety
checks. The inquest jury heard that he could still have been alive if a guard
had been fitted around a motor. Stepehne had worked at Eternit UK Ltd,
for more than 20 years and was in charge of one of the only machines of
its type in the country. Works manager, Patrick O'Connor, said the factory had now instituted a system for workers to obtain permission before accessing dangerous areas.
Gwlym Hughes
Gwlym, a retired engineer, was found drowned in the bath at the nursing home after being transferred from the hospital ward where he had spent 14 months. Gwlym was found floating in a bath in an unlocked bathroom at the Station House Nursing Home, days into a month-long trial after leaving Leighton Hospital where he had been treated for Alzheimer's disease. The inquest was held at Cheshire Coroner’s Court in March 2002. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' caused by drowning as a result of Alzheimer's dementia was returned. Within half an hour of night staff checking Gwlym's room a nurse heard the sound of running water from a bathroom some distance from his bedroom and found him floating in the water. His clothes were neatly piled on a chair. The Coroner Mr Nicholas Rheinburg said it was not clear how Gwlym had got into the bath and the jury had heard criticism from the family, which was natural, but an inquest was not the place to deal with it. The nurse in charge of the unit, Isaac Allotey, said Gwlym had been put to bed about 11.30pm but around midnight was found wandering in the corridor. He was incontinent and was changed and put back to bed. Mr Allotey said he checked Gwlym again at 12.50am but was called to a bathroom on the other side of the unit about half an hour later when Gwlym was found partly submerged in a full bath of water by one of the nursing assistants. They tried to resuscitate him without success and an ambulance was called. Mr Donald Shallcross, a health and safety inspector, said there was confusion over whether bathroom doors in nursing homes should be locked. Many thought that under the Human Rights act those residents who wished should be able to take a bath whenever they wanted. There was no ruling under any other legislation over whether or not the door should be kept locked. The nursing home had now decided to keep the door looked.
Timothy Latham
Timothy, a self employed farmer, was killed when on 10th September he fell 12 ft through a corrugated asbestos roof he was dismantling. He died eight days later The inquest was held at Cheshire Coroner's Court on 19 March 2002. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. The outbuilding was a 50 ft by 50 ft iron framed structure with
a corrugated asbestos sheeting roof. Nicholas Rigby, an inspector for
the Health and Safety Executive, told the inquest the roof of the building
in Hernes Lane, in Faddiley, was particularly fragile. Philip Belton
Philip, a plant driver employed by Baldwins, a plant hire company, was killed when he was hit by the arm of a crane while working at the Winnington site of a company called Brunner Mond. The crane was being used to carry out maintenance work on the company's kilns The inquest
was held at Cheshire Coroner's Court in February 2004 when an 'Open' verdict was returned.
Salma Saleem
Salma, a sufferer from Down's Syndrome, was killed on an organised trip to the Gulliver's World theme park when she fell 21 feet from a ferris wheel suffering severe head injuries. The inquest was held at Cheshire Coroner's Court between 7 and 9 July 2004. An 'Open' verdict was returned. The inquest at Runcorn Town Hall heard safety bars on the wheel's carriages had failed at least 10 times. Cheshire Coroner Nicholas Rheinberg demanded the theme park's workers should receive better training. He said, 'I announce my intention to write to the managing director of Gulliver's World directing her attention to two matters. The first matter is that I believe that it would be desirable that one person at board level should be appointed as responsible for health and safety issues relating to both park employees and visitors. Secondly, that those employees charged with health and safety responsibility should receive training and that a record of such training should be kept.' Speaking outside court, the Saleems' solicitor Andrew Kirkpatrick described the inquest as 'harrowing' and made reference to Salma's mother's 'daily guilt'. He said, 'This has been a harrowing and traumatic three days for the Saleem family during which we have all heard some startling revelations about the practices of ride operatives at Gulliver's World. Salma's mother lives with the daily trauma of a mother whose child has died in front of her and the daily guilt that she allowed a ride attendant to split her from her child.' The inquest had heard Salma had not been allowed to ride in the same carriage as her mother. The theme park's director had told the inquest it was the job of carers, rather than ride attendants, to assess the suitability of rides for disabled people. He also admitted his employees had not had any training in how to treat people with disabilities. There was no written log of accidents. In October 2006 Gulliver's World managing director Julie Dalton entered guilty pleas at Chester Crown Court on two charges. The firm was fined £70,000 for failing to ensure a person's safety and £10,000 for not carrying out risk assessments. Judge Roger Dutton said there were 'serious failures' and 'a degree of unacceptable complacency'. Mark Harris, prosecuting on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said there was no evidence that Salma's death was caused directly by health and safety breaches, particularly as the lap bar was found to be securely locked after the accident. But he said there were several safety failures which could have caused a similar accident. They included fitting safety bar locking mechanisms which were intended for use on domestic doors, failing to lubricate the locks properly and using a wrongly-shaped coach key to open the locks. The court also heard the firm followed a 'replace when broken' policy on locks, rather than checking for wear and tear and failed to record a history of faulty locks. The HSE inspectors also found the timber frame of the Ferris wheel, built in 1996, was in a poor state of repair and footplates were loose. Dominic Nolan QC, defending, accepted there were some flaws in safety procedures and said the firm had spent about £400,000 on health and safety since the accident. He said, 'Here is a case where the message has demonstrably got home.' The firm will also pay £90,000 in court costs.
David Moran
David, who was employed by Manchester-based Elmsgood Haulage, was killed when he fell though a rooflight at an industrial unit in Shesford Grange in Woolston.. The company was contracted to a Cheshire firm Excavating & Contracting (UK) Ltd. He was cutting the floor using oxyacetylene burners, which produced plumes of smoke. He went onto the roof to open the rooflight when he fell. The inquest was held at Cheshire Coroner's Court.on 24 May 2005 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. In February 2006 at Warrington Magistrates' Court Knight Frank company was fined after admitting it failed to provide the proper health and safety documentation at the building site in breach of health and safety regulations. Chairman of the bench, David Prince, ordered the company to pay a fine of £3,500 for each offence as well as a contribution of £4,580 towards prosecution costs. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecutor, Simon Parrington, told the court that the company had been instructed to carry out a pre-tender health and safety plan but Knight Frank delivered the plan late and it was later said to be 'inadequate' as it failed to mention some of the potential hazards at the site. Bernard O'Sullivan, the former Managing Director of Excavation & Contracting (UK) Ltd, was found guilty of a HSE charge, in that he failed to ensure that risks to non-employees were adequately controlled, at Warrington Crown Court on 13 October 2006 at the end of a two-week trial. Nigel Lawrence, prosecuting, told the court that there were no precautions in place to stop David or his colleague from falling when they began removing some of the roof lights. He said that at about 11.30 that morning, the pair decided they needed more tools to carry on the job and David headed back across the roof to get them. Mr Lawrence added, 'It was at this stage the accident happened. At around noon, Dennis O'Connor was assisting a driver to reverse and pick up a skip in the main warehouse when he spotted a body near the skip.' In October 2006 the HSE successfully brought criminal charges against five different parties. Between them they were fined a total of £87,000 and ordered to pay £57,228 costs at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court. HSE construction inspector for Cheshire Nic Rigby who brought the cases to court said: "This prosecution follows the tragic death of a young man on a site in Warrington. Unfortunately, his death is not unique: on average, one person is killed on a construction site in Great Britain every five or six days, and many more are seriously injured." David's employer Elmsgold Haulage Ltd of Clayton House, Piccadilly, Manchester and John McSweeney, of Willow Road, Prestwich, the Managing Director of Elmsgold Haulage Ltd - pleaded guilty to two charges under Section 2(1) of The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSW Act) in that they failed to provide a safe system of work and failed to ensure that people working on site were properly trained and supervised, and a third charge under Regulation 9(3) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 in that they failed to ensure that lifting equipment was properly examined and inspected. Elmsgold Haulage was fined £10,000 for each charge and ordered to pay total costs of £9,756. Mr McSweeney was fined £5,000 for each charge and ordered to pay total costs of £5,000. Demolition contractor Excavation & Contracting (UK) Ltd of Sandringham Avenue, Denton in Manchester, the principal contractor for the Chesford Grange project, and the company's former Managing Director Bernard O'Sullivan, now living in Australia, pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 3 (1) of the HSW Act in that they each failed to ensure that risks to non employees were adequately controlled. Excavation & Contracting (UK) Ltd was fined £35,000 and ordered to pay £9,972 costs Bernard O'Sullivan was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £30,000 costs Dennis O'Connor, of St James' Road, Orrell, Wigan, Elmsgold Haulage's site foreman pleaded guilty to a charge under Section 7 of the HSW Act in that he failed to ensure the safety of other employees. He was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £2,500 costs
Blane Nickisson
Blane, a tipper lorry driver working for Frizzel at a project in Moston, died by electrocution in a layby on Mill Lane, Moston near Sandbach. The layby was a popular stop off point for drivers and it is believed that Blane had parked his lorry and raised his tipper which came in contact with overhead cables. He was discovered by a school secretary, Debra Ball, who moved him away from the live lorry at a risk to her life and attemped to resuscitate him. She later received an award for bravery. The inquest was held at Cheshire Coroner's Court on 10 October 2003. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.
Graham Fredrick West
Graham, a
worker at Buchans CV (Concrete) Ltd, was found dead at his place of work
from what are assumed to be natural causes. Martin Povey
Martin, a casual farm labourer, died in a loader accident on a farm at Marsh Lane, Ince, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. The inquest
was held at Cheshire Coroner's Court on 11 October 2004 when an 'Open' verdict was returned. William Culton
William, a lorry driver from Wiltshire, died after being crushed under his vehicle at the Knutsford Services on the M6 motorway possibly due to release of brakes. The inquest
was held at Cheshire Coroner's court on Tuesday 6 July 2004 when a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. William Young
William, a worker at the haulage firm Eddie Stobart, died a blood clot caused by deep vein thrombosis which resulted from injuries after being struck by a fork-lift truck while working with a pallet truck in an aisle at the warehouse.The accident fractured his leg and he was taken to Warrington Hospital where a pin was inserted into his right leg. He was discharged from hospital but collapsed on Boxing Day and died by the time he was taken to hospital. An investigation by the local authority's environmental health team took place and since then flashing lights have been installed on the pallet trucks. Fork-lift trucks have also been banned from driving along the aisles when people or pallet trucks are stationed there. The inquest was held at Cheshire Coroner's Court on 12 October 2004. Mark Cowell, the warehouse operative who was driving the truck that hit William, told the court that he had a pallet on his vehicle so could see in front of him but not low down, and did not see William or the small pallet truck William had been using. A verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned.
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