STEEL FIRM SENTENCED Yorkshire and the Humber is
OVER NORTH YORKSHIRE the most dangerous region
WORKER’S DEATH
for workers in the UK
A Sheffield steel company has been sentenced
after a catalogue of safety failings led to a
42-year-old worker being killed when he was
knocked off his lorry and then crushed by a threetonne load of steel tubes.
F
ather-of-three Robert Ismay, from Thirsk, was delivering two bundles
of 7.5-metre-long tubes to Daver Steels Ltd’s premises at Petre Street
when the incident happened on 6 December 2012.
On 17 April, Sheffield Crown Court heard from the Health and Safety
Executive (HSE) what should have been a straightforward unloading
operation was beset by errors and failings that left Mr Ismay fatal injuries.
Mr Ismay, a visiting delivery driver, had parked his lorry on the road
opposite the site. No checks were made by Daver Steels to see what was to
be offloaded or how the load was positioned.
A trained but inexperienced forklift truck driver was then told to lift the
steel tubes, but the forks’ reach was too short so when they were raised,
the bundles fell off and struck Mr Ismay. He was pushed off the trailer
onto the pavement and was hit and fatally wounded by the bundles of
steel tubes as they crashed down behind him.
The HSE investigation found Daver Steels:
• Had not assessed the risks involved with loading and unloading so had
no safe system of work in place
• Had not provided instructions or sufficient training to staff
• Failed to provide direction to workers, leaving them to develop their own
practices including choosing how they offloaded, what equipment to use
and where offloading took place
The court was told an inspection by Daver Steels of what was being
delivered would have shown the only safe way to unload was to use a
crane, which the company had, and to put the truck in the loading bay
rather than leaving it on the busy road outside.
Instead there was no planning of the task and no communication
between the site and the delivery driver. Road users were also put at risk
when the forklift blocked part of the road during the failed unloading
attempt, the forks ha [