A stone supplier has been fined £50,000 after one of its workers was killed when granite slabs fell on him while he was offloading a lorry in South Lanarkshire.
Hamilton Sheriff Court heard that on 4 September 2024, Steven White, 61, was removing the slabs from a lorry loader at Blyth Marble’s Larkhall premises.
White was working on top of the flatbed section of the lorry when two granite slabs with a combined weight of over 900kg fell and struck him, causing fatal injuries.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) conducted an investigation and found that vertical safety posts, which provide a physical barrier to prevent slabs from toppling, had been removed during the offloading operation.
While it was accepted practice for the posts to remain fitted during offloading, it was not specified in Blyth Marble’s safe system of work.
The HSE investigation also found that while lifting two slabs at once was regular practice, the company’s safe system of work failed to distinguish between single slab lifting and multiple slab lifting and lacked specific instruction for handling multiple slabs.
White was also working alone on the lorry loader despite the safe system of work specifying that two people should be involved in offloading operations.
Blyth Marble pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and as well as the fine, the court ordered it to pay a victim surcharge of £3,750.
HSE Principal Inspector Martin McMahon said: “This was a tragic incident which could have been prevented had the company made sure the appropriate safety measures were in place and followed during offloading operations.
“Employers must ensure that safe systems of work are not only in place but are sufficiently detailed to address all foreseeable risks, including the requirement for safety equipment to remain in position and for adequate personnel to be present during hazardous operations.
“Our thoughts remain with Steven White’s loved ones, and we hope today’s verdict offers them a measure of closure.”
