Aram fined £75,000 for crusher death

Cornish quarrying firm Aram Resources has been fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £30,000 costs following a lack of operator competence and insufficient machine safety led to the death of an employee in July 2004.

Robert Bickley, 42, died after suffering fatal head injuries when he was caught up in fixed guard of a primary crusher as it came into contact with the flywheel at the company's Carnsew Quarry.

Aram pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 11 (1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 in that it failed to ensure that sufficient measures haad been taken to prevent access to dangerous areas of crusher.

It also pleased guilty to breaching regulation 9 of the Quarries Regulations 1999 by failing to ensure that Bickley had the right competence level in terms of machine guarding. The firm was fined £40,000 for the first breach and £35,000 for the second.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector leading the case, Simon Edwards, who no longer works in quarries because of the recent HSE shake-up, said: “Every quarry operator, no matter how small the business, must by law identify the risks on site and ensure that they are properly controlled.

“Equally, everyone working at a quarry must be properly trained and experienced for the work they do. In this particular instance, the company lacked the competence to identify that the guards provided for the machinery did not comply with health and safety standards.

“The company also failed to ensure that adequate training and supervision had been provided.”