 2008 Oxford vigil following death of Altin Balla Oxford Trades Council have written to us to let us know they are planning a regional demo in Cameron’s constituency home town, Whitney, Oxfordshire, on Saturday April 28th 2010, International Workers Memorial Day. The demo will halt outside Marriots Close in recollection of the death of Altin Balla in 2008. The photograph shows Oxford Trades Council members with Construction Safety Campaign at a silent vigil outside the site shortly after he died.
The inquest the following year recorded a verdict of accidental death. It found Altin Balla, 28, from Aberystwyth, was crushed bewteen a steel beam and the basket of a cherry picker he was operating on 29th August 2008 on the site of Marriotts Close shopping development in Whitney. Mr Balla was working as a net rigger, and it was his job to hang safety nets to protect steel fixers working high up on the building frame. He was in the basket of the cherry picker manoeuvring it back and forth to line it up with the gap when the accident happened.
As he moved the machine backwards, one of the wheels drove up a pile of spoil, raising the basket with him in it and trapping him between the steel girder and basket. Altin Balla Inquest report BBC News
 Liliana and Doru Alexa and Construction Safety Campaign supporters at the Inquest On Monday 12th March, at the end of the inquest into the deaths of Michael Alexa and Jonathan Cloke which happened on 26th September 2006, the jury returned a narrative verdict: Both men died as a result of a crane collapse due to failure of the inner slew ring bolts due to overloading of the counterweight. The overloading was due to an incorrect manual being used in the erection of the crane. On the 25th July 2006, four inner slew ring bolts failed and all of the slew ring bolts were replaced. No investigation was undertaken as to the root cause of the bolt failure. On the 26th July 2006 the crane was returned to service.
At that time there was no adequate formalised process and procedure to allow for faults to be managed, escalated or investigated. In addition there was a vacuum of structured management in the company’s service department.
The Coroner did not allow them to consider a verdict of unlawful killing.
In the week we have heard all the evidence in the Inquest for Michael Alexa and Jonathan Cloke, here is a reminder of the debate earlier in the year in the Guardian. The letters are responding to David Cameron: health and safety is no monster
This is London Hazards letter:
The most recent figures show the number of workplace deaths in London nearly doubled – from nine to 17 – in a year. When workers get killed, inevitably investigations prove that corners have been cut and the law broken. It is London Hazards Centre’s belief that the 35% cut to The Health and Safety Executive’s budget is already costing workers lives.
For David Cameron to start the new year saying his resolution is “to kill off health and safety culture” shows not just insensitivity to bereaved families, but how out of touch he is with countries with more civilised workplace arrangements in Europe and other parts of the world. The actual conclusions of the Löfstedt review are distorted in the rush to turn back the clock to the 1950s.
Löfstedt said there was no evidence to suggest there is a case for stripping back current health and safety regulation, or to support reducing regulatory requirements for smaller firms. We must make sure the coalition does not water down worker protection.
Also, in over 20 years of campaigning for improvements, London Hazards has seen no evidence of “burdens on business”, only the opposite. Peter Juszczyz was killed on a small site in Wembley in 2006. In court, HSE said: “His death was clearly avoidable as risks of excavations is well known.” The employer was fined just £750. That is not a burden.
Margaret Sharkey
Advice worker, London Hazards Centre
Skyways Shopfitters Ltd, Morgans Yard Arundel Road Uxbridge were fined £18,000 for:
- for failing to provide storage for highly flammable liquids
- not examining lifting equipment or providing training for operators
- not checking exhaust ventilation
- not providing suitable respirators for sprayers
- not repairing defective electrical systems
- failing to protect workers from dangerous moving parts of machinery.
30 workers were put at risk. HSE inspector Saif Deen said:
“This company carried out several high risk activities with an almost total disregard for health and safety.
The seriousness was reflected in nine Improvement Notices issued.”
Some early reports of the Inquest into the Battersea Crane deaths of Michael Alexa and Jonathan Cloke
The Evening Standard reports:
“The machine, owned by Falcon Cranes, should have had eight tons of concrete balancing the weight of its load but the contractor used a manual for a different model which needed 12 tons…..
Health and Safety Executive inspector Brent Bolton said the extra weights would have increased the tension on a crucial set of bolts by ‘100-plus per cent’.
The 24 bolts on the crane’s slew ring – which allows the top part to pivot – had been replaced two months earlier after several suddenly broke while in use at the site on Thessaly Road.
Mr Bolton told the hearing: “When we showed the manual that Falcon were using to the manufacturer, they told us that certain pages within the manual had been mixed up with those of other models of crane, and certain pages were missing.
“On every site that the crane was erected in the UK, it had an excess counterweight load on it – by between 16 per cent and 52 per cent.
“An overload of 52 per cent actually puts more than twice the force through the bolts on the slew ring, so the force being felt by the bolts increases by 100-plus per cent.”
More at:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/london/crane-killed-two-men-weeks-after-faulty-bolts-replaced-7537339.html
http://www.constructionenquirer.com/2012/03/06/wrong-manual-used-to-erect-death-crane/
http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/116232
Between 20th February and 16th March HSE inspectors will be looking at whether:
- Jobs that involve working at height have been identified and properly planned to ensure that appropriate precautions are in place
- Equipment is correctly installed / assembled, inspected and maintained and used properly
- Sites are well organised, to avoid trips and falls
- Walkways and stairs are free from obstructions
- Work areas are clear of unnecessary materials and waste.
All firms have pulled out of the BESNA contracts after a sustained campaign by electricians to maintain conditions. (23.2.2012)
Unite (Friday 17 February) welcomed the withdrawal of controversial contracts by Balfour Beatty Engineering Services (BBES), which would have resulted in the termination of long-held agreements and the de-skilling of electricians, plumbers, heating and ventilation engineers – with inevitable bad effects on health and safety standards throughout the construction industry. Unite statement here:
Balfour Beatty withdraws contracts
Wonder if anyone has any information relating to Employer Liability insurance for the above London based upholstery company. They were formally registered under Company No 511878 between 1952 and 1972 They changed their name in 1972 to Sealine Services (Marine Supplies) Ltd and in 1976 to P&O Group Purchasing and Supplies Ltd
Any information would be gratefully received.
mail@lhc.org.uk
Dear Friends-
The Italian criminal court in Turin declared the two asbestos defendants GUILTY and condemned them to 16 years in jail! You can hear the full English version of the sentence read out (it took nearly 3 hours) online at:
http://www.livestream.com/greenbox_/video?clipId=pla_0c7ba848-010d-4338-9afe-e6f75fa45c5d
The verdict was a sensation and everyone in the court was very relieved and pleased, the exception being the defendants’ lawyers. Neither of the defendants was there; neither one of them has appeared in court at any time during the proceedings.
Of course this isn’t over and there is another trial for others who have died at Eternit’s hands in Italy, but what an historic milestone in the long search for justice endured by victims and their families.
The Italian newspapers had the news of the verdict on front pages; indeed, there has been massive coverage all over the world and the reputation of the two defendants is now well and truly trashed. It will be difficult now for Schmidheiny to present himself as the saviour of the planet in his capacity as an environmental guru and proponent of sustainable development.
The court proceedings began at 9:30 on Monday morning and there was a 3 hour interval from around 10 a.m. During that time I was taken to meet the Public Prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello and to present him with a copy of the new publication: Eternit and the Great Asbestos Trial (see link on IBAS website: http://ibasecretariat.org/eternit-great-asbestos-trial-toc.htm
He seemed very calm in those hours before the verdict was given. I took that as a good sign.
Indeed it was.
Friends of mine saw news clips about the trial on TV in Indonesia and Dubai and emailed me. I have found the link at:
http://www.euronews.net/2012/02/13/asbestos-victims-breakthrough/
Best regards,
Laurie Kazan-Allen
On Monday the 13th February 2012 the verdict of the Turin Eternit Trial will be announced: it is the largest and most important criminal case ever on asbestos-related deaths. Three thousand victims in four Italian plants – Casale Monferrato, Cavagnolo, Rubiera, Napoli – await justice.
There is live screening of the trial here: Asbestos in the dock starting at 9am with a live stream providing an english translation.
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