Two companies have been fined after a father-of-three was crushed to death by a machine.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the incident was entirely avoidable and Russell Hartley would still be alive had this work been planned, managed and monitored to a sufficient standard. Mr. Hartley, was a self-employed engineer from Sheffield who had been hired by Premier Engineering Projects Ltd to replace machinery at a materials recycling facility on Twelvetrees Crescent, Bow, London.
The 48-year-old led a group of four engineers tasked with replacing a Trisomat screen, known colloquially as a ‘flip-flop’, on 24 February 2020, when the incident occurred. The flip-flop, a machine that sorts different sizes of waste, was fixed within a metal structure at height in a bay at the site.
The crane, supplied by M&M Mobile Crane Hire Ltd, was first used to lower the flip-flop from its position at the site.
Mr. Hartley, then took over using a telehandler. With the flip-flop resting on the telehandler’s forks, the machine began to go further down the bay. The flip-flop became jammed in the bay when Mr. Hartley attempted to reverse the telehandler. The crane was then used again to lift the flip-flop off the telehandler, which unknown to the workers, had its forks slightly raised above ground level.
As the crane moved towards the telehandler, the flip-flop toppled forwards off the forks and crushed Mr. Hartley. Another worker, who was standing on the flip-flop at the time, was thrown off the machine but escaped serious injury.