Firm fined after worker's death

A County Durham engineering company has been fined £10,000 following the death of a worker.

Darlington-based NEF Steel Fabrication Limited admitted failing to ensure the safety of its employees, after 22-year-old James West was crushed in September 2002.

It also pleaded guilty to permitting employees to use a crane without adequate training.

Mr West died when a stack of metal cubes fell on him after being struck by the crane.

Teesside Crown Court heard new employee Frederick Bone had not driven a crane for 10 years, when the vehicle hit the stack of metal, which had been piled three high.

Two of them fell off, killing father-of-one Mr West and injuring another worker.

The court was also told the accident investigation showed that almost everyone in the 10-worker company drove the crane and most of them had no training.

Mr West who lived with his mother at The Red Lion pub on Main Street in Shildon, had a four-year-old son.

Dr David Shallow, an inspector for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought the prosecution, said after the case that it was the third serious overhead crane incident in Darlington in two years.

He called for tougher penalties for firms which did not provide proper training.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Peter Fox QC, imposed a £5,000 fine for each offence, with £3,800 costs after studying details of the company's trading accounts and the amount it spent on training.