The Health and Safety executive (HSE) has prosecuted Shell and Ampelmann after an incident taking place in October 2017. The companies were fined over £1.2m after being prosecuted for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 as Martin Hill, an offshore worker, had his feet crushed while walking along a gangway over the North Sea.
He was part of a group of maintenance workers on the Kroonborg support vessel heading towards Shell's offshore gas rig. Despite high wind and heavy seas, the transfer went ahead before sunrise. As he walked along the gangway, there was minimal artificial light. As the gangway telescoped in line with the movement of the sea and vessel, Martin's feet were trapped. Due to the serious nature of his injuries, he had to be airlifted to hospital and narrowly escaped having both feet amputated.
After a HSE investigation, the gangway designed by Ampelmann was deemed not to be sufficiently protected from the risks of entrapment and trip injury at the moving step so Ampelmann failed to take all reasonably practicable steps to reduce the risk of people's feet being trapped. As well as this, Shell failed to ensure that lighting on the gangway was in accordance with long-standing guidance.
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