WARNING – GRAPHIC CONTENT: David Vinsome was hospitalised for nine days after he was crushed by a huge excavation bucket at a shipyard in Sunderland – Midland Steel Traders Ltd has now been fined £100,000 following an investigation
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Sunderland: CCTV shows moment equipment crushes shipyard worker
Horrifying CCTV shows the moment a welder was crushed by a huge excavation bucket at a shipyard.
David Vinsome, 37, was left seriously hurt with fractured ribs and internal injuries as a result of the incident at Pallion Shipyard in Sunderland on October 18, 2022.
Welders had been using an overhead gantry crane and a forklift truck to rotate a large excavator bucket at the time of the incident. David was crushed while attaching the chains from the crane to the bucket as the forklift truck driver started lifting – unaware he was behind. Midland Steel Traders Ltd has now been fined £100,000 following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
In a victim personal statement, the father-of-one from North Shields said he spent nine days in hospital and still suffers with pain. He said: “When I did come home, I was in bed for about a month before I tried to get down the stairs.
“My partner is a NHS nurse, so she helped a lot. I am still suffering a lot of pain with my shoulder. I have a daughter and I cannot do the school run anymore or take her out for meals or ice cream.
“I am worried about getting back to work. I don’t know when that will be or how I will manage. I don’t think I will go back to welding.”
The investigation found Midland Steel Traders Ltd had failed to ensure the lifting activity was properly planned by a competent person, or carried out in a safe manner. The firm also failed to produce a lifting plan, and to establish a safe system of work for this activity – leading to a “breakdown of communication between the multiple operators involved”.
HSE inspector Matthew Dundas said: “Lifting operations can often put people at great risk, as well as incurring great costs when they go wrong.
“It is therefore important to properly resource, plan and organise lifting operations so they are carried out in a safe manner. Had that been done in this case then Mr Vinsome wouldn’t have been so seriously injured.
“HSE provides detailed guidance on lifting operations including the importance on how they should be properly resourced, planned and organised, to enable them to be carried out in a safe manner.”
Midland Steel Traders Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching the Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company was fined £100,000 and told to pay £4,916 costs at Newcastle Magistrates Court on February 13.
