Firm fined after worker killed at Felixstowe

An investigation by the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Essex-based R. W. Hill (Felixstowe) Limited had failed to effectively plan and manage the safe pumping of concrete, in that an exclusion zone around the flexible delivery hose, which caused the fatality, was not enforced.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard how R. W. Hill Limited was employed as the main contractor working to replace the Berth 7 roadway at the port’s Trinity Terminal and had sub-contracted a specialist concrete pumping contractor to pump the concrete and a concrete laying contractor to lay the concrete.

Out of control

On 7 August 2015, a flexible delivery hose through which concrete was being pumped became momentarily blocked, then cleared under pressure, causing it to violently whip round and fatally strike Gary Louis, an employee of the concrete laying sub-contractor. Another worker suffered cuts and bruising.

The investigation also found the company did not adequately supervise, instruct nor did it provide suitable information to sub-contractors, and failed to monitor the pumping operations to ensure the ongoing safety of workers.

Speaking after the case, HSE inspector Glyn Davies said: “As this case sadly demonstrates, poorly-managed concrete-pumping operations can and do kill construction workers when industry safety guidance is not followed.”

By Rebecca Jeffrey