BAE faces huge fine after worker crushed at Yorkshire plant

The HSE said the death of experienced maintenance engineer Gary Whiting, 51, at the BAE plant at Brough was an “entirely preventable tragedy”.

Mr Whiting, from Hull, died on November 10 2008, when he was part of a team performing a routine service on a large metal press.

The HSE said the piece of machinery was the size of a two bedroom house and used to make components for Hawk jets.

Hull Crown Court heard how Mr Whiting entered the machine to remove a piece of equipment but, at the same time, a colleague at the other end of the press started a full test cycle.

He was trapped by the 45 square metre frame as it descended and he died the same day in hospital.

The HSE said its investigation exposed a series of flaws in safety practices during maintenance of the metal press, some of which had existed for many years.

Failings included an absence of a suitable assessment of the risks associated with the test process and a lack of engineering control measures to prevent entry by workers to dangerous parts of the machine during testing or to stop the machine if anyone did enter a danger zone.

BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd of Farnborough Aerospace Centre, Farnborough, Hampshire, was fined £250,000 and ordered to pay £97,153 costs after pleading guilty to a breach of Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act l974.

The company had entered a guilty plea at a hearing last year.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Mark Welsh said: “This was an entirely preventable tragedy that devastated Mr Whiting’s wife, Jackie, his two children and his wider family.

“They have shown admirable resilience during what has been a protracted and, at times painful, process.

“The dangers of maintenance work on these types of machines are well- known yet BAE Systems Ltd failed to identify those risks and its serious failings led to this tragedy.

“Although the press machine had been serviced regularly, it was done in the same unacceptable way and it is surprising there had not been an earlier incident.

“The guarding was inadequate and there were no key safety systems, no light guards or interlocks on the doors of the machine; nothing that would have either prevented entry to dangerous parts or stopped the machine if entry was made.

“In addition, there were no instructions, either written or verbal, given by BAE to workers about how to carry out the testing process safely.

“This incident should serve as a reminder to companies to ensure that dangerous parts of their machines are identified and measures taken to properly protect their workers.

“No company should put its employees at unnecessary risk.”

A statement released on behalf of Mr Whiting’s widow, Jackie, two children and brother, said: “We are pleased that, more than four-and-a-half years after Gary was killed, BAE Systems have been brought to justice.

“The complete absence of any safe system of work for the job Gary was performing beggars belief.

“There wasn’t a suitable risk assessment for the job he was doing.

“The machine he had been working in had been operated with a person inside it before and it is pure luck no-one was killed in the machine before Gary.

“If BAE Systems had spent even a relatively small amount on safety features for the machine he was working in, Gary would have been alive today.”

The statement said: “Gary shone as a light in all of our lives, and the lives of all those who knew him.

“Gary had the most infectious smile.

“He was always full of life, fun and energy, and was a devoted, loving husband, dad, granddad and brother.

“Gary is missed terribly.

“The loss to us is unbelievable, we struggle without him, but life goes on and he will never ever be forgotten.”

In a statement, the company said: “BAE Systems deeply regrets the death of its employee and colleague, Gary Whiting, in November 2008.

“BAE Systems appreciates the anguish this accident has caused and will continue to cause to Gary’s family, friends and colleagues and for that BAE Systems sincerely apologises.

“The accident at BAE Systems Brough site, which claimed Gary’s life, has been the subject of comprehensive and in-depth investigations, both by BAE Systems and by the Health & Safety Executive. BAE Systems has co-operated fully with the HSE in its investigation throughout.”

The company said the incident was an “isolated failure at a site that generally has an excellent health and safety record” and said it pleaded guilty after acknowledging there was a flaw in its safety procedures.

A spokesman added that since the tragedy a number of improvements have been made at the site to ensure that such an accident never happens again.