Firms fined over 35ft fall of electrician at Coventry manufacturers

Two companies have been fined after an electrician fell 10m headfirst when a crane knocked him out of a lift cage.

The worker was repairing lighting fixtures at Expert Tooling and Automation Ltd in Coventry when he was knocked from his scissor lift cage by a crane operated by another worker nearby.

The 52-year-old from Sheffield fell to the factory floor, leaving him with a fractured skull and numerous other injuries.

His employer Optilight Electrical Services Ltd and Expert Tooling and Automation admitted breaching health and safety laws and were fined £7,000 and £50,000 respectively.

The worker operating the crane on September 21, 2022 did not see the electrician in the lift and the collision caused it to spin and hit nearby shelving before landing on the factory floor, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which prosecuted the companies, he said.

A second employee from Optilight Electrical Services avoided being crushed by the scissor lift by jumping out of the way before landing on the floor, the HSE added.

The electrician suffered a fractured skull, two brain bleeds, a broken collarbone, eight broken ribs, a broken elbow and wrist, and a punctured lung.

He was later placed in an induced coma and underwent several operations.

The HSE found that Optilight Electrical Services failed to identify the operation of cranes as a risk to its employees working at height at Expert Tooling and Automation’s premises on Sayer Drive.

Expert Tooling and Automation did not put procedures in place to prevent the use of overhead cranes during work and relied on contractors to identify risks and implement measures.

Both companies failed to communicate with each other about how the work they were undertaking could impact on safety, the HSE added.

Expert Tooling and Automation pleaded guilty to breaching section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act and Optilight Electrical Services Limited, of Oakwood Road, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, admitted breaching section 2.

Both firms were also ordered by Birmingham magistrates to pay £1,985 in costs at the hearing on 29 April.

HSE inspector Charlotte Cunniffe said: “This case clearly illustrates the disastrous consequences that can arise when two companies each assume that the other has taken responsibility for safe working practices. Risk often arises from a failure to communicate effectively.”