John Ibbotson inquest: Worker suffocated during warehouse accident

John Ibbotson, 57 died at a warehouse in the village of Gargrave, in September 2020, while working for Systagenix Wound Management Manufacturing.

A jury inquest into his death heard a pallet, which had a box of medical packaging on it that weighed almost 600kg, tipped off another box and fell onto the warehouse operative’s back.

Three of his colleagues managed to release him, after ripping open the box and removing some of the contents, and CPR was attempted, but Mr Ibbotson was pronounced dead by paramedics at 8.53am.

A post-mortem examination found the cause of death was traumatic asphyxia.

No one was with Mr Ibbotson, who was known as Tony, when the pallet fell and the incident was not caught on CCTV.

But when the Health and Safety Executive conducted an investigation, they found that workers would sometimes stack pallets on top of each other or in a pyramid formation.

Inspector Caroline Skingle told the inquest she does not know how the pallet which killed Mr Ibbotson was stacked, as it had been moved before North Yorkshire Police officers and HSE inspectors arrived on the scene.

“A couple of witnesses said they would normally be stacked at ground level, but if space was tight they would stack them in the pyramid formation,” she said.

“Police had taken a number of photographs of the area and one included two pallets stacked on top of one another in the adjacent bay, I believe. But that had been moved when I got there.”

Inspectors also found one of the pallets found at the scene of the accident was damaged as a column “had come away”, she added.

Ms Skingle said the HSE then issued a prohibition notice, to prevent the company from double stacking those pallets, and ordered it to carry out a detailed risk assessment of how it stores them.

North Yorkshire Police officers who were called to the scene, following Mr Ibbotson’s death, found there were no suspicious circumstances.

His partner Amanda Ediminson said he was always “safety conscious” and he "never expressed any concerns to me about unsafe practices at work”.

She added: “I also feel Tony wouldn't take unnecessary risks and would feel comfortable enough to speak out if he felt he was being asked to do something that wasn't safe.”

The inquest at Northallerton Coroner’s Court, which is expected to last three days, continues.