A company in Kent has been fined £175,000 after an employee was crushed to death in a workplace accident.
Liam McArdle, from Gravesend, was fatally crushed by an excavator attachment while working for Erith Plant Services Limited on 21 September 2021.
The incident occurred when a a demolition grab, attached to an excavator, fell onto the 24-year-old while it was loaded onto a lorry at Erith Plant Services Limited’s workshop at Eastern Quarry on Watling Steet, Swanscombe.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident found Erith Plant Services Limited failed to ensure there was a safe method of work while loading and unloading excavators and attachments.
The company failed to ensure steps were taken to ensure HGV drivers fully engaged the quick hitch when moving attachments during loading and unloading activities. There was also no defined segregation between vehicles and pedestrians at the firm’s Eastern Quarry workshop, nor was there suitable supervision of work activities.
HSE guidance states the plan for any lifting operation must address the foreseeable risks involved in the work and identify the appropriate resources, including people, necessary for the safe completion of the job.
Liam’s dad says the pain since losing his son has been unbearable.
Declan McArdle said in his victim personal statement: “The pain of losing my son has been and will continue to be unbearable. Liam worked hard and wanted to learn. He wanted to follow in my footsteps, and I was proud of the person he was becoming.
“Liam and I enjoyed spending time together. We would go on truck rallies and to car racing events together. Liam would never really say: ‘I love you, dad.’ It just wasn’t his way.
“Rather, he would ask me to go to a racing event with him and I knew that this was Liam’s way of saying he loved me. Liam and I were planning on going to a racing event in February 2022. I went to the event, and I took Liam’s ashes with me so that we could still go together.”
Erith Plant Services Limited, of Queen Street, Erith, Kent pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £175,000 and ordered to pay £37,804 in costs at Woolwich Crown Court on 27 March 2024.
HSE inspector Joanne Williams said: “This tragic death serves as an important reminder that workers need to be trained and that there is always the potential for an attachment to fall during the operation of excavators. Employers need to ensure that work practices are maintained to keep workers away from the danger areas during lifting activities.”
This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Alan Hughes and supported by HSE paralegal officer Helen Jacob.
Accidents at work – The law
Employers have a liability to ensure their workers are safe under The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
The regulations set out a number of rules including providing a safe working environment that is properly maintained, where operations within it are conducted safely and adequate welfare provisions for staff at work.
It is a criminal offence to fail to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act. A breach of provisions of regulations can be punishable by fine, imprisonment or both.
If you have suffered from a work-related accident, get in touch with Oakwood Solicitors today.
Claiming for injury at work
You have 3 years to bring a claim within 3 years from the date of your accident, but it is advised that you bring a claim as soon as possible to pursue the matter. You can make a claim if you are an employee, agency worker or a contractor.
In many industries, companies tend to hire contractors and self-employed workers to carry out work on projects. It is a misconception that self-employed workers are always responsible for their own workplace health and safety.
Whilst it is true that they would usually have to take out their own insurance to cover certain aspects, in some circumstances they can claim if they are injured due to the actions of an employed person.
Depending on the relationship between the company and contractor, a self-employed contractor may be able to establish that the accident and subsequent injury was caused by another person or company.
This is largely because the self-employed person will usually have no control over the health and safety and/or risk assessments for the site they are working on.
Accidents at work – Compensation examples
If your Accident at Work claim is successful, you may be entitled to compensation. Compensation is awarded in special damages and general damages.
General damages are awarded to compensate for the physical and/or mental suffering the claimant has experienced due to the accident and the effect it has had on your life. If symptoms are ongoing and are supported by medical evidence, this would increase the value of the claim.
The best starting point for assessing damages is by reference to the Judicial College Guidelines, which set out financial brackets for common types of injury.
The guidelines are broken down into the affected body parts and type and severity of the injury. They were introduced as it was recognised that whilst no two cases are ever precisely the same, justice was required to develop consistency between awards.
Special damages are awarded to cover any financial losses or out-of-pocket expenses caused as a result of the incident. This could include loss of earnings, medication or prescription charges, travel to appointments or any cost of care for the extra care you have needed from family or care providers.
If you are unable to do tasks like gardening, walking the dog, and have to pay for these services as a consequence of your accident and subsequent injuries, these can also be claimed for.
This can also include any future loss claim and if you are unable to return to the same job as a result of the accident at work, you can claim for a lump sum based on your wages known as Smith v Manchester award.
This is where it can be proved that as a result of your injuries, there is a risk you would find it more difficult to obtain similar employment.
However, an injured person has a duty to take reasonable steps to minimise their losses/expenses. This is called mitigation of losses, and a Court will assess whether or not the loss was reasonably incurred, before making an award.
Workplace injury examples
Accidents at work can happen across all industries, and serious accidents can happen if employers do not follow the legal guidelines to keep employees safe. We have listed some of the most common types of accidents at work:
Construction site claims
Work at height claims
Manual handing
Trips and slips
Defective work equipment
Issues with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Inadequate training
Accidents caused by colleagues or superiors
Accident at work solicitors
If you have suffered from an accident at work and have been left with injuries, you may be entitled to claim against your employer. Oakwood Solicitors team of legal experts are on hand to assist you with your claim today.
Alex Singleton joined Oakwood Solicitors in April 2021 as an experienced Paralegal, having worked in Personal Injury since 2018. Currently, Alex works in the Employers’ Liability and Public Liabilit…
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