The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned of the dangers of allowing cranes to operate over the heads of employees. The warning following the prosecution of a Liverpool-based company after a man was killed and another seriously injured after they were struck by a load that fell from a crane.

MRX Engineering Support Services Ltd, trading as Stackright Building Systems of Charleywood Road, Kirby was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £16,941 costs at Liverpool Crown Court to breaching S 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 in that it failed to ensure the safety of it's employees. The company pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at Knowsley Magistrates Court.


Welder Keith Wharton, aged 41, from Kirby was killed instantly and his colleague Christopher Cansfield, 31, from Bootle sustained severe injuries including a broken neck and leg in the incident on 8 March 2007.

The court heard that the Mr Wharton was killed and Mr Cansfield seriously injured when a steel lifting frame weighing more thean half a ton fell from an overhead crane. There was no safety catch on the hook of the crane, which could have prevented the load from falling. The company should not have allowed loads to be moved over people's heads and the crane operators had not been adequately trained in its safe use.

(JM)