It has taken Specialised Movers four years to recover from a tragic accident. Here's what happened.

It was back in the April of 2004 that Nigel Shaw and Carole Hible’s worlds were turned upside down.  A tragic accident, that was not their fault, set them on a four-year nightmare from which their company, Specialised Movers of Sheffield, has only just recovered.  The effect on them as individuals will be more long lasting.  Here’s what happened.

The company got a job to move 25 small machine tools from a factory in Market Drayton.  It was simple enough.  They did all the necessary risk assessments and method statements; their crews were all experienced and well trained; nothing had been left to chance – or so they thought.

They had been told that none of the machines weighed more than 1.75 tonnes so they had a 2.5 tonne fork lift on site and a lorry fitted with an appropriately rated Hiab loader crane. Everything went fine for the first two days, then disaster struck.

One of the machines looked bigger than the others so the foreman asked the owner for documentation to confirm its weight.  The owner produced a brochure for the machine confirming that it was 1.75 tonnes.  But as the fork lift took the weight the machine started to slide.  The lorry driver, who had only recently joined the company, made a dash for the machine to try to stop it falling.  The machine fell on him.

The driver survived the initial crushing.  His colleagues, greatly traumatised of course, lifted the machine off him and he was airlifted to hospital, where he died later.

“It was a terrible experience for everyone but we had no idea that the nightmare had only just begun,” explained Nigel.

When there is a fatality at work the police automatically charge the company with corporate manslaughter as a holding charge. He and Carole were on a manslaughter charge for 12 months. “It was an absolute nightmare,” said Nigel. “It is a potential prison sentence and your movements are severely restricted.  You can’t go out of the country, you can’t do anything.”

After twelve months Nigel and Carole went through interviews with the police.  They had the best solicitors money could buy all paid for by the insurance company. They also went to the inquest where everyone attended: the family, the police, the helicopter pilot, the guy who serviced the fork lift truck. The intention was to find out if there was any kind of grievance between the company and the employer.  Of course there wasn’t.

The outcome was accidental death with a narrative. The narrative was that Specialised Movers had done nothing wrong.  They had done everything possible to preserve the man’s life. It was an accident on the day.

When the investigation was dropped by the police it was automatically taken over by H&S.  When the inspector arrived he said, “If someone dies, someone has to pay.  And you will be prosecuted for something,” Nigel explained.  Despite the police saying that nothing had been done wrong, the investigation took two years. Meanwhile Nigel and Carole just had to wait, never knowing whether they would be fined or how much it might be. 

“They completely stripped the fork lift truck. We were interviewed four or five times. We were not allowed to talk to the family. They disputed the weight of the machine but we had used our best assessment to find out the correct weight,” said Nigel.

In the end the investigation showed that there had been a slight oil leak on the engine of the truck.  It was nothing to do with the hydraulics and nothing that could have caused the accident but H&S said it should have been taken out of service. H&S also said that the company should have had an emergency procedure if something went wrong. So there were two charges. There was no defence.

Nigel and Carole went to the magistrates court and pleaded guilty.  It is very unusual for an H&S fatality to be heard in a magistrates court.  Nigel believes that it was only because of his company’s BAR and CMG credentials that the case wasn’t referred to the Crown court.  The difference: the fines in a Crown court are unlimited.

In judgement the magistrate imposed a fine of £4,000 for not having an emergency procedure and £5,000 fine for the oil leak, plus £4,000 costs. “You cannot insure against an H&S fine as it has to be seen to be a punishment.”

Nigel had known that the fine, if it went to a Crown court, would have been based on the turnover and profitability of the company.  During the three years run-up to the case he had reduced the size of his company to mitigate the potential exposure. “It could easily have been a £100,000 fine, which would have put us out of business,” said Nigel, “and all for something we didn’t do.”  All in all, Nigel reckons the incident cost his company £2,000,000 in lost income and fines.  It has taken him years to rebuild.

So what’s the lesson? “We are now a lot more positive on paperwork. And if anyone out there is thinking of skimping on H&S my advice is, don’t.”

It is rather chilling to consider that, in the wake of the case, the public liability insurance premiums for Specialised Movers actually went down. The argument from the insurers was that the company was less likely to have a repeat performance. “They told us: ‘You’ve had your disaster, there are another 500 movers out there waiting for theirs. It is they who will have their premiums raised.”’

Very scary! 

This is the end of this article but not the end of the story.  Next month we’ll write about how this innocent accident affected Nigel and Carole when the VAT man got his teeth into them.  Unbelievable!

  Nigel Shaw - still smiling despite the nightmare.