Site death co-workers had not read instruction manual

None of the workers for a contractor whose employee was killed in a machine accident had read the safety guide for how to operate it, an inquest has heard.

The fatality occurred in Bradford in 2007, when Steven Allen died on the construction of a new waste recycling plant, after becoming trapped by a Probst scissor-grab machine.

The inquest into the death heard that the machine had been used to lift bags of concrete, despite the manual strictly prohibiting its use for anything other than concrete blocks, according to reports by the Telegraph and Argus.

The newspaper said that no staff had received training for the use of the machine, nor had anybody been appointed as a slinger or banksman during the lifting operation.

UK Health and Safety Executive inspector Catherine Rimmer also informed the inquest that a certificate showing the competence of the lift operator, David Akrigg, was two years out of date.