RP Tyson Construction fined £16,000 after bricklayer's death

Blackpool firm RP Tyson Construction has been fined £16,000 and ordered to pay nearly £6,500 in costs at Preston Crown Court after one its workers was crushed by a pack of floor decking during work at a school in 2004.

The firm pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSW Act) following a chain of events that led to bricklayer Anthony Ishwerwood's death.

HSE inspector Roger Jamson explained that Isherwood was working on the conversion of a gymnasium into a classroom space. The work involved creating a mezzanine floor supported by steel beams which had been put into place a few days before. Packs of steel decking had been placed onto the beams temporarily.

Jamson continued: "In the morning Mr Isherwood had started fixing the beams into place but before this was completed he moved to ground level where, with others, he started to build a wall intended to support the flooring between two of the beams. An all terrain lift truck was being used to bring materials into the gym. When this reversed its mast struck one of the steel beams, which was supporting a pack of floor decking. As one end of the beam had not been fixed into place, this caused steel decking to fall onto Mr Isherwood and crush him."

He urged construction firms to assess particular risks involved on their sites in order to avoid incidents like this in the future.