PCR Steel Ltd fined £59,900 after a driver was killed by a load being lifted onto his flatbed trailer

PCR Steel Ltd  was fined £59,900 (inc.costs) after a driver was crushed and killed by a metal balcony being loaded onto his truck.

The circumstances were:

• On 4 April 2019, an employee of South East Galvanizers Limited visited PCR Steel Ltd at their premises to collect a load which included a metal balcony base frame.
• PCR Steel failed to ensure that the lifting operation was properly planned by a competent person, 
• They failed to ensure that it was appropriately supervised, and carried out in a safe manner. 
• There was no lift plan for the manoeuvring of balcony frames that could have considered the load’s security, size and weight. 
• There was no plan for how the load would be set down, nor for how to exclude people from the danger zone.
• The driver was standing on the back of the trailer bed whilst the  balcony base frame was being loaded.
• The load was not secured and the balcony frame weighing approximately 400kg fell and crushed him.