Lift Death Tragedy: Firm Fined

A West Kingsdown company has been fined £20,000 at the Old Bailey after a lift engineer they sub-contracted at a prestigious Mayfair development was crushed to death despite desperate efforts to save his life. .

J Brown Services Limited of Nirvana House, London Road had pleaded guilty at City of London Magistrates’ Court to a summons brought by the Health and Safety Executive and were committed for sentence.

Andrew Bates, 40, was tragically crushed to death when a lift he was fitting safety equipment to suddenly began moving at 17 Woodstock Street, a four-storey terraced office block, on December 6, 2005.

Cables hanging from the shaft got snagged on bolts sending a rogue signal to the lift and causing it to move and then trapping Mr. Bates, the court heard.

Men on the site report they heard screams and Mr. Bates was trapped between the top of the lift roof and the shaft and they were unable to free him.

They had to call the fire brigade to free Mr. Bates who later died in hospital.

The court was told the building refurbishment included the removal of the old lift and installation of a new one and J Brown took over the half-finished job when the original contractor ran out of time.

Mr. Bates was not an employee of the company, but was a sub-contractor they knew and was working with a member of the Brown family when the tragedy occurred.

The Health and Safety Executive say Kent's J Brown should have used five-core cable instead of three-core which reduces the chances of a rogue signal.

They also maintain a person should have been assigned to manually control the lift.

The company’s lawyer told the court J Brown ceased trading on August 31, 2007 and will be wound-up at the conclusion of the prosecution.

It’s current assess total £11,300.

The tragedy is if he had stayed where he was he would have been in a safe place designated for that purpose.

An inquest at Westminster Coroner’s Court recorded a verdict of accidental death.

The Health and Safety Executive’s expert Dr. Anthony Wray told the inquest Mr. Bates would have had only a split-second to react when the lift started moving.

The company admitted that being an employer they failed to ensure that the safety, as far as was reasonably practicable, of persons not in their employment would not be effected by their work installing a lift between November 30 and December 6, 2005.

The company was also ordered to pay £25,000 costs.