Lack of racking to blame for warehouse death says HSE

Ronald Meese, 58, of Bilston, a production supervisor for HVAC manufacturer Roberts-Gordon Europe, had been stacking three-metre-long metal tubes in the firm’s Wednesbury warehouse when the incident happened on 27 July 2011.

With the aid of a forklift truck, he had created several stacks, but as he left his cab to set down timber pieces for the next bundle of tubes to rest on, one of the stacks, weighing a tonne, collapsed onto him. Paramedics were called but Mr Meese was pronounced dead at the scene.

The HSE investigated and prosecuted his employers for safety failings. The court heard another employee was unloading a container of the heater tubes, bound by bands into bundles of 19 and weighing around 200kg per bundle.

Mr Meese then used a forklift truck to move the bundles into stacks, five bundles high and with wooden separators, parallel to the internal wall of the "Goods In” area. He needed to leave the cab of the forklift truck at each trip to set down timber for the next bundle to rest on.

The HSE investigation found that there were no restraints nor any racking to support the tube stacks and the timber used to separate them were not a standard size. The source of the timber used for the task was not controlled by the company.

Mr Meese, who had been with the company for 34 years, was a trained forklift truck driver but neither he nor his colleagues had been given specific training or instruction on stacking the tube bundles. There was also no risk assessment in relation to the task.

HSE inspector Carol Southerd said: "This was a tragic and needless death that could have easily been avoided if there had been an assessment of the risks relating to unloading the tubes and adequate safety measures taken.

"Falls of heavy materials from above head height is a common problem and often leads to death or serious injury. Unsupported stacking of heavy materials is an unacceptably high risk in areas where pedestrian access is allowed.

"Storage racking should be used. If this is not possible, safe areas, such as overhead protected walkways, must be provided to allow access. 

"Had storage racks been in use in this instance, Mr Meese would still be alive today.”

Roberts-Gordon Europe was fined £150,000 and ordered to pay £33,000 costs, after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Mr Meese’s sister Valerie Whitehouse said: "We are all devastated by the untimely, unnecessary and tragic loss of our much loved Ronnie. All of the family miss him terribly.

"Our grief is exacerbated by the fact that we would still have Ronnie if safety standards had been implemented and adhered to at Roberts-Gordon Europe.”