Bedfordshire based piling firm Dawson Wam has been ordered to pay out nearly £110,000 at Chester Crown Court, following the death of a 63-year old piling rig operator. The employee died on 10 May 2004 after an incident on the site of the Quinn Glass bottle manufacturing facility at Elton, Cheshire. The company was constructing 7,500 piles as part of the foundation of a building, a process which involved drilling a hole into the ground with the auger of a piling rig, pumping concrete into the hole as the auger was withdrawn and finally inserting reinforcement bars.
On the day of the accident there was a delay in the delivery of concrete to the workers piling rig, and concrete which remained in the flexible rubber hose used to connect a concrete pump to the rig began to harden, leading to a blockage. After attempts to clear the blockage failed, it was decided to try using compressed air. The flexible hose was broken up into individual sections and at least two of these were blown out with compressed air without their ends being restrained. During the unblocking of the last section, the end of the hose whipped upwards and struck the worker on the head, causing fatal injuries.
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Robert Hodkinson said, "Cleaning out or unblocking piling rigs and associated equipment, such as concrete pipes and pipe work, with compressed air is a very high risk operation and should be formally assessed. I recommend that all piling companies reassess their cleaning and unblocking operations to ensure that they have safe systems of work in place, and that employees carrying out such activities have received clear instruction and training."
