Repeat crane accident causes major injury

Leeds Galvanising & Powder Coating Ltd, was fined £13,000, with full costs after a repeat of an object falling from a crane.

The circumstances were:

• On 14 September 2011, ineffective safety latches on a crane hook caused an object to fall from an overhead crane. 
• Following an HSE investigation, the company was told to re-instate the safety catches.
• However, since the 2011 incident, the use of safety catches lapsed.
• In March 2014, an employee was operating a pendant controlled  overhead crane and he began to lower a loaded jig to the ground.
• As the metal products made contact with the floor in the vertical position it lifted the left end of the jig off the hook because there was no safety catch. 
• The end of the jig came free and swung down hitting one of the other employees.
• He broke two ribs, fractured his pelvis and punctured a lung.
• He was off work for nine months and had to undergo six months of physiotherapy.  

The HSE inspector said:“Lifting operations can put workers at serious risk of injury if they’re not carried out properly, as well as incurring significant costs when they go wrong. It is therefore important to provide suitable equipment for the task, and properly plan lifting operations before work commences to ensure it is done safely. In this case the accident was easily preventable. By failing to provide lifting equipment with working safety catches, a worker suffered serious injuries and other employees were also put at risk.”