A&G fined £2,500

Steel fabricator A&G Structures was fined £2,500 with £350 costs last week after pleading guilty to causing an incident last December in which two inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive narrowly missed being hit by a 3m steel beam which fell "like a spear." The incident, at a site in Dacre Street, London, happened when a beam, one of three being lifted by crane, broke free from its slings.

At a hearing earlier this month, Bowmer and Kirkland, main contractor on the site, pleaded guilty to an associated offence and was fined £12,500 with £550 costs.

Mark Ashley, counsel for A&G, told the Horseferry Road Court in London that it had been the responsibility of a Bowmer and Kirkland-trained slinger to load the beams, but at the time, the man was out to lunch. Instead, an untrained A&G employee slung the beam from the lifting chains. He wrapped the chains once around the beam instead of the recommended twice but expected an experienced slinger would check before the load was lifted.

One of the inspectors nearly hit by the beam, Barry Mullen, remained at the site for the rest of the day. Mullen told the court that his investigation revealed a "haphazard and lax approach" to lifting operations.

Beams were being lifted above the footpath where members of the public walked.