Risk planning 'could have averted fatality'
Construction
11th February 2009
Simple risk planning could have prevented an accident in which a 41-year-old construction worker was killed, it has been claimed.
Michael Broughton died while pouring concrete when a suspended hose whipped violently after a concrete pump was started.
Pochin Concrete Pumping and Lincolnshire-based UCS Civils were each handed a fine of £40,000.
Rob Cooper, an inspector for the Health and Safety Executive, said the case highlighted the need for companies to take all risks into consideration when planning construction work.
He commented: "The precautions that should have been adopted were as simple as to ensure that no one stood close to the end of the flexible delivery hose until concrete was flowing smoothly from it."
A new code of practice for the safe use of concete pumps has since been published by the Construction Plant-hire Association (CPA).
The CPA has more than 1,400 member companies and represents over 90 per cent of all construction plant hire firms in terms of turnover.
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