A Kent company has been served a £175,000 fine after a member of staff was crushed to death on shift.
Liam McArdle, 24, from Gravesend, died after being crushed by an excavator attachment whilst working for Erith Plant Services Limited on the 21st of September 2021.
The accident took place when a demolition grab, attached to an excavator, fell onto Liam while it was being loaded onto a lorry at Erith Plant Services Limited’s workshop at Eastern Quarry, Watling Steet, Swanscombe.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Erith Plant Services Limited had failed to ensure that correct practices were in place during the loading and unloading excavators and attachments.
There was a failure to ensure that steps were taken so that HGV drivers fully engaged the quick hitch when moving attachments during loading and unloading. It was also uncovered that there was no defined segregation between vehicles and pedestrians at the firm’s workshop, nor were work activities suitably supervised.
HSE guidance stipulates that plans for any lifting operation must address the foreseeable risks involved in the work and thus identify the appropriate resources, including people, necessary to successfully complete the job in complete safety.
Liam’s father, Declan McArdle, has spoken of the unbearable pain after the loss of his son in his victim personal statement:
“The pain of losing my son has been and will continue to be unbearable. Liam worked hard and wanted to learn. He wanted to follow in my footsteps, and I was proud of the person he was becoming.
“Liam and I enjoyed spending time together. We would go on truck rallies and to car racing events together. Liam would never really say: ‘I love you, dad.’ It just wasn’t his way.
“Rather, he would ask me to go to a racing event with him and I knew that this was Liam’s way of saying he loved me. Liam and I were planning on going to a racing event in February 2022. I went to the event, and I took Liam’s ashes with me so that we could still go together.”
Erith Plant Services Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company received a fine of £175,000 and was ordered to pay £37,804 in costs at Woolwich Crown Court on 27 March 2024.
Joanne Williams, HSE inspector, said:
“This tragic death serves as an important reminder that workers need to be trained and that there is always the potential for an attachment to fall during the operation of excavators. Employers need to ensure that work practices are maintained to keep workers away from the danger areas during lifting activities.”
This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Alan Hughes, with support by HSE paralegal officer Helen Jacob.
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