GBP50000 fine after man crushed to death by scrapyard claw

The death of a man crushed by a scrapyard grab claw has prompted a prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and a £50,000 fine.

James Huntley & Sons Ltd of Sholing, Southampton, pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and contravening Regulation 3(6) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 at Southampton Magistrates Court on 28 October 2009.

At Southampton Crown Court on Friday 27 November, the company was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £34,373.80.

Barry Collins, 24, from Millbrook, Southampton was killed when he and his brother, Joey Collins, visited the site run by metal recyclers James Huntley & Sons Ltd in Sholing, Southampton on 2 August 2007. They were examining a vehicle for its parts and entered the site by the open back gate while the grab claw crane operator was elsewhere. The grab claw crane was used to move scrap around the site.

Barry Collins was inside the van when the crane operator came back to start work. Despite his brother, Joey, trying to tell the crane driver that Barry was in the van, the operator misunderstood and thought he was being asked to pick up the van.
As the crane picked up the vehicle Barry Collins was in, he suffering major neck and shoulder injuries and was instantly crushed by the crane's five-finger grab. He died at the scene.

At the time of the incident, there were no warning signs around and outside the site to indicate which areas were out of bounds to members of the public and there were no published site rules or formal systems of work.

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