Two firms pay £203,000 for cradle death

Prosecutions and Claims |
30.07.2008

Cradle manufacturer Apollo Cradles must pay £160,000 in fines and costs after one man was killed and three others injured when the platform they were working on collapsed.

Bradway Construction, which employed the four men, admitted failing to ensure the safety of employees and must pay a total of £43,000.

Sixty-year-old Anthony Bottomley was killed in July 2003 when a bracket on the suspended access cradle gave way, causing it to fall 10 metres. The other men suffered fractures and internal injuries.

Sheffield Crown Court heard in June that the platform, provided by Apollo Cradles, had been hanging off the side of the 12-storey St James Court building in Sheffield city centre for 13 months without a strip-down examination. A winch would jam several times a day, making the cradle jolt.

The HSE's investigation found the bracket was corroded, the bolt holes were worn oval and the wrong bolts had been used.

HSE principal inspector Dave Redman said the four men had never worked in a suspended access cradle before.

"By failing to operate an effective maintenance regime and to properly examine the condition of the cradle, [Apollo Cradles] betrayed the trust of workers whose lives depended on them.

"Added to this, the workers were required by their employer, Bradway Construction, to carry out painting and maintenance at height in a cradle without any training or instruction as to its safe use."

A jury at Sheffield Crown Court took a day to find Apollo Cradles of Barnsley guilty of breaching Sections 3(1) and 36 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. On 29 July, the company was fined £115,000 plus £45,000 costs.

Sheffield-based Bradway Construction was fined £25,000 plus £18,000 costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act.