Steelmaker Corus has been fined £250,000 and told to pay costs of £43,000 after the death of a worker at its Trostre plant in Llanelli. The company pleaded guilty to two breaches of health and safety legislation at Swansea Crown Court.
The worker had been working as part of a team replacing rollers on a mill used for making strip steel. A latch pin that would have prevented a plate from falling was not in place and a switch was faulty.
Barrister Simon Parrington, on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said the accident was foreseeable and avoidable and that, "The company failed to recognise the extent of the hazard." Further, Mr Parrington said that the need to review risk assessments at the mill had been raised by the works safety committee before the accident, but had not been done.
Charles Feeney, defending the company, stated the death was the first fatality at the plant since it opened in 1952 and that there had been "an enhanced approach" to health and safety since the accident. Furthermore, steps had been taken to "make sure this type of accident will never occur again." Moreover, the judge said he was sure the accident was not due to a desire to cut costs and he was satisfied the company had sped up the process of updating risk assessments.
However, workplace safety campaigners have criticised Corus's safety record, which in recent years has included a sequence of fatalities on its work sites meaning the death toll of workers has risen to at least 10 in the last six years.
