£18,000 bill after worker killed by falling marble
A Long Sutton company has been fined £18,000 after the death of a storeman who was pinned under more than a tonne of marble.
Paul Bocking (30) was found trapped by several slabs on December 9, 2005, almost a year after the death of his partner Kandice Joof in a car crash.
He had been due to leave work early to plant a tree in her memory.
Mr Bocking, of Nene Meadows, Sutton Bridge, was moving slabs in the Colin Parker Masonry storeroom when the accident happened.
The firm, based in Bridge Road, admitted charges of failing to discharge its duty and contravening health and safety rules at Spalding Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.
The firm was fined 15,000 for the duty charge and 3,000 for the second charge along with 8,722 costs.
Prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, Dr Ian Ellison said there were no defined systems on how to move the slabs so the workers devised their own.
He said Mr Bocking, who died of asphyxiation, had been seen holding slabs to his chest to move them into position to be lifted by a crane.
The court heard that the company's risk assessments did not address the issue of manually handling the marble and missed the point.
Dr Ellison said the accident happened as a result of poor health and safety management and poor risk assessments along with supervisors not knowing or enforcing the rules.
In mitigation Mr Louis Weston apologised on behalf of the company and expressed the firm's sorrow at Mr Bocking's death.
Mr Weston said the company had not been reckless but made a tragic mistake.
He said that the company employed a health and safety consultant to review its procedures that were found to be inadequate.
Mr Weston told the hearing that since the accident the firm has installed new equipment in the warehouse.
He said the company did not have a problem with industrial accidents in the past and was not issued with notices following previous HSE inspections.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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