Concrete manufacturer fined £1m after death of employee

A concrete manufacturer has been fined £1m after a man died at its site in Nottinghamshire.

Stewart Ramsay worked for Creagh Concrete Products (CCP) at Thurgarton Lane in Hoveringham when he suffered fatal head injuries on 15 March 2017.

The 24-year-old, from Mansfield, was trapped in a metal grab that colleagues were using after a rope connected to a locking lever snapped.

CCP admitted a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

As well as a fine, it was ordered to pay £47,521.08 in costs following a sentencing at Nottingham Crown Court on 5 April.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said Mr Ramsay and colleagues were using the grab to unload Spantherm, a concrete building product, from trailers - even though the grab should not have been in use.

Though the rope attached to the lever was tied in a double-knot, the locking mechanism released the jaws of the grab as Mr Ramsay pulled on it, which the HSE said caused the fatal injuries.

CCP admitted failing to ensure its employees carried out lifting operations safely, and doing so without training and information being in place.

HSE inspector Amandip Dhanda said Mr Ramsay's death "could easily have been prevented if his employer had acted to identify and manage the risks involved".

"The work equipment being used at the time of the incident should not have been in use, and the employer would have known this had they effectively followed their own health and safety systems," he said.

"This tragic incident led to the avoidable death of a young man."

Mr Ramsay's mother Carol Hansford said he was "loving, caring, thoughtful and very funny".

She said: "All he did was go to work.

"Things like this shouldn't happen - it destroys families forever. Nobody should have to go through what we have done these past six years."

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