Britain: Tata Steel in six figure payout to injured worker
An employee at a Tata Steel plant in Wales has secured £235,000 in compensation after a serious incident at work which almost cost him his leg. The 54-year-old Unite member was unable to work for a year and has since been seconded into a different, less physically demanding position within the company.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 646
Hazards news,
15 March 2014
Britain: Companies fined following death of contractor
Steel manufacturer Tata Steel and a specialist contractor have been fined a total of £320,000 for safety failings after a worker was killed by a falling metal bar in Redcar. Kristian Lee Norris, 29, from Middlesbrough, was working for Vesuvius UK Limited to re-line a steelmaking furnace at Teesside Cast Products at the time of the fatal incident on 12 April 2008.
HSE news release and falls webpages • More on the Tata’s (previously Corus) safety record • Risks 591
Hazards news,
2 February 2013
Britain: Death shows need for director accountability
Health and safety campaigners have demanded that company directors be held personally accountable for the “serial killing” of workers after the latest death at a Corus steelworks. Barry Shaw died on 28 August in what police described as a “crushing accident” at Corus's Scunthorpe steel mill.
Hazards Campaign news release • More on Corus’ health and safety record • Morning Star • Grimsby Telegraph • BBC News Online • Risks 472
Hazards news, 12 June 2010
Britain: Unite safety alert after Corus death
The union Unite is calling on all safety reps to make sure employers take all the necessary steps to prevent fatalities after a member was killed at work. The call for vigilance follows the 23 April death of an electrician working for Corus at their Scunthorpe Concast Plant.
Unite news release • Scunthorpe Telegraph • Risks 460
Hazards news, 12 June 2010
Britain: Corus in the dock again after crushing death
Corus UK has been fined £240,000 after a young lorry driver was crushed to death at its site in Staffordshire – the steel multinational’s fourth appearance in the dock on safety charges in just six weeks. The latest prosecution came after 22-year-old Ross Beddow was crushed to death when three tonnes of steel plates fell on him at the firm’s base in Wombourne.
HSE news release • More on Corus’ safety record • Risks 452
Hazards news,
17 April 2010
Britain: Corus effect shows need for director rules
Leaders of the main political parties are being asked to state where they stand on employers who kill and injure their workers - especially notorious repeat offenders. The Hazards Campaign question - “When will senior directors of companies such as Corus be held personally accountable for their serial killing and injuring workers?” – follows the fourth Corus safety fine in six weeks, the latest after the death of lorry driver Ross Beddow.
Hazards Campaign news release • Risks 452
Hazards news,
17 April 2010
Britain: Steel giant Corus gets its third fine in a month
Corus ended March as it began – in the dock for safety offences. On 31 March, the steel giant was fined £10,000 following an explosion in a 75-metre-tall steel chimney in Scunthorpe, the firm’s third prosecution of the month.
HSE news release • More on Corus and safety • Risks 451 Hazards news, 10 April 2010
Britain: Corus gets second safety fine this month
Steel giant Corus has found itself facing the courts on safety charges for the second time in a fortnight. In the latest case, the multinational was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £9,908.50 costs at Sheffield Crown Court after a worker escaped with minor injuries after the crane he was operating overturned.
HSE news release • More on the Corus safety record • Risks 448
Hazards news, 20 March 2010
Britain: Steel giant Corus gets away with a £5,000 fine
Steel giant Corus has been fined £5,000 after a worker was seriously injured while clearing a jam in the production line at a factory in Skinningrove, East Cleveland. The fine will not make a significant dent in the company coffers: the firm’s website notes: “Corus is Europe's second largest steel producer with annual revenues of around £12 billion and a crude steel production of over 20 million tonnes.”
HSE news release • More on the Corus safety record • Risks 446
Hazards news,
6 March 2010
Britain:
Corus in court again for safety failings
Steel maker Corus has been fined again for serious safety failings.
It the latest in a long sequence of prosecutions, the firm was this
week fined £15,000 at Hartlepool Magistrates’ Court and
ordered to pay £6,248 costs after a crane operator was crushed
and seriously injured.
HSE
news release • Hartlepool
Mail • Northern
Echo •
More on recent Corus
deaths and prosecutions • Risks
375
Hazards news, 27 September 2008
Britain: Another
six figure death fine for Corus
An incident that saw a Corus worker crushed to death has cost the
company £200,000 in fines and costs – the second time
it had received a six figure fine related to a fatality in less than
three months. It was also fined £125,000 in August last year
after a worker suffered horrific, near fatal burns at its Scunthorpe
plant.
HSE
news release • More
on recent Corus deaths and prosecutions • Risks
354
Hazards news, 3 May 2008
Britain: Union
vigilance call after Corus death
Construction union UCATT has said companies must strive to improve
safety, after a young member was killed at a Corus plant on Teesside.
Kristian Norris, 29, was a refractory bricklayer employed by sub-contractor
Vesuvius UK to perform maintenance work.
UCATT
news release • Risks
352
Hazards news, 19 April 2008
Britain: Corus
fined over worker's death
Steelmaker Corus has been fined £250,000 and told to pay costs
of £43,000 after the death of a worker at its Trostre plant
in Llanelli. Francis Coles, 42, known as Frank, died when he was struck
on the neck by a guard plate in 2003.
BBC
News Online • More
on the Corus safety record • Risks
344
Hazards news, 23 February 2008
Britain:
Another Corus worker gets deafness payout
A factory foreman who was exposed to excessive noise at work which
left him with severe hearing difficulties has been awarded undisclosed
compensation by his former employer, Corus. GMB member Martin Bourne,
70, was employed as a mechanical foreman at the Corus UK Llanwern
Works in Newport, Gwent.
Thompsons
Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 22 December 2007
Britain:
Another tragedy at deadly Corus plant
A 46-year-old contract worker has died in
an incident at Corus's Port Talbot works. Robert Gillard was operating
a tipper truck when the vehicle overturned; he was employed by international
contractor Multiserv.
BBC
News Online
Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: Corus fined
£125k for latest safety breach
Steel giant Corus has been fined £125,000 after steelworker
David Jones suffered near fatal injuries when he fell into a pit containing
hot toxic chemicals. He suffered horrendous burns when he fell feet
first into an interceptor pit at Scunthorpe's Corus works on 26 March
2005.
HSE
news release • Find
out more about the Corus prosecution record
Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain: Union wins
hearing damage payout
A worker from Goole, Humberside, who is suffering two debilitating
health problems caused by exposure to excessive noise at work has
received a £4,000 compensation settlement. Malcolm Goddard,
60, a member of Unite’s Amicus section and former Corus employee,
suffers from severe occupational deafness and tinnitus, a ringing
in the ears.
Thompsons
Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 12 May 2007
Britain:
Huge payout for Corus blast survivor
An Amicus member who suffered 43 per cent burns in a steel blast furnace
explosion which killed three other workers has received a “huge”
six-figure payout. Peter Clement, 54, was one of 12 workers injured
in the blast at the Port Talbot steelworks in November 2001.
Risks 293, 10 February 2007
Britain:
Corus work death crisis continues
Another worker has been killed at a Corus plant, bringing the death
toll on the company’s facilities to at least nine in the last
six years. Ross Beddow, 20, was killed last week after become trapped
underneath a sheet of metal at the company’s factory at Wombourne,
near Wolverhampton.
Hazards deadly
business webpages • Hazards
young workers webpages • Fack
website
Britain:
Questions asked about Corus ‘justice’
The day steel giant Corus received what has been described as a “pinprick”
fine for criminal safety offences which led to the deaths of three
workers, three sub-contract migrant workers at another Corus plant
were jailed and told they would be deported for working illegally
in the UK. The cases have thrown into stark relief concerns about
the adequacy of existing workplace health and safety penalties, with
the father of one of the dead men backing a campaign calling for the
jailing of company directors found guilty of deadly safety crimes.
Risks 288, 23 December 2006 •
Fack website
• Hazards
deadly business webpages
Britain:
Corus investigated after another death
The police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are investigating
the latest death at a Corus steel plant in Port Talbot. A father-of-two
who was injured in the 2001 explosion at the south Wales plant died
in hospital after falling into molten waste. Corus said Kevin Downey,
49, was “instrumental” in helping to tackle the 2001 incident
in which three workers died.
Risks
255, 6 May 2006 • Recent
safety offences at Corus – Hazards website
Britain:
No manslaughter charges after Corus death blast
Police have said they will not be bringing manslaughter charges
against any individuals in respect of the Corus blast furnace explosion.
Three men died and a further dozen suffered horrendous injuries in
the disaster at the Port Talbot works in November 2001
Risks 232, 12 November 2005
Police probe latest Corus
death
Police have named a 52-year-old man who died in an accident at a
Corus plant in south Wales. Father-of-two Hywel Thomas, who was from
the Pontarddulais area, died on 8 April 2005 after the accident at
the Corus-owned Aluminised Products Plant plant in the town.
Police and the Health and Safety Executive have launched an investigation.
Production was halted at the plant, which employs around 75 people,
after the accident. A Corus spokesperson added: “The workforce
is in a state of shock. There is a very strong sense of community.”
The tragedy is the latest in a series of fatalities at the company.
Corus UK Ltd was fined £150,000 and £50,000 costs in December
2003 following the September 2000 death at the company’s Scunthorpe
steel plant of locomotive driver Michael McGovern. Gary Birkett died
at the Scunthorpe plant on 5 November 2002.
In February 2003, Corus was fined £10,000 and costs of £1,286
for safety offences related to the death of Bob Powlay, 54, at its
plant in Portrack, Stockton.
In January 2003, Francis Coles, a 42-year-old maintenance engineer,
was killed at the Corus tin plate works in Llanelli, Wales. And in
November 2001, three workers died in an explosion at the Corus steelworks
in Port Talbot.
On 26 March this year, a steelworker at Corus’s Scunthorpe
plant was seriously burnt after falling into a pit of effluent and
remains in a “poorly but stable” condition.
In September last year, Corus chief executive Philippe Varin expressed
his concern over the company's safety record, particularly the high
number of what he called “contractor incidents.”
Corus
fined after another workplace death
Corus UK Ltd has been fined
£150,000 and £50,000 costs following an incident in which
a worker was killed. Locomotive driver, Michael McGovern, was killed
on 15 September 2000 when the train he was driving at the Corus steelworks
in Scunthorpe derailed.
The company pleaded guilty
at Grimsby Crown Court to criminal safety breaches for failing to
maintain their railway system.
HSE inspector Dave Bradley,
the investigating inspector, said: "Our investigation concluded
that the company's system of inspection, maintenance and repair was
deficient. There were faults with the vehicle involved, intermittent
faults in the points mechanism, as well as defects in the track and
signals."
He added: "This incident
demonstrated the dangers of relying on reactive maintenance when dealing
with plant and machinery. Workplace transport is the second biggest
cause of fatal accidents in British workplaces, killing around a hundred
and injuring thousands of people every year. The vast majority of
these accidents are preventable."
The incident is one a series
at Corus plants country wide, including the death of Gary Birkett,
killed at the Scunthorpe plant on 5 November 2002.
Risks
135, 6 December 2003
Corus death toll increases
Francis Coles, a 42-year-old maintenance engineer
was killed at the Corus tin plate works in Llanelli, Wales on 5 January
2003.
The police and Health and Safety Executive are
conducting a joint investigation into the - and Corus has also opened
its own inquiry.
The worker killed was a member of the Iron and
Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC) union. Michael Leahy, general secretary
of the ISTC, said: " The ISTC will play a full part in the investigation
to find out the cause of his death."
A Corus spokesperson said the managers offered
their sympathy to the family, adding: "The plant has an exemplary
safety record and this has shaken everyone."
The accident follows the disaster at the nearby
Corus plant in Port Talbot in November 2001, when three men were killed
and another 12 injured in an explosion.
This disaster came days before the company was
fined £300,000 for serious safety breaches at its Llanwern plant that
led to an explosion that left a worker disabled. In another incident,
steelworker Gary Birkett was killed at the Corus Scunthorpe plant
on 5 November 2002.
Corus has been touted as a model for behavioural
safety programmes for the metals industry worldwide.
Risks
88, 11 January 2003
Hazards behavioural
safety page
PREVIOUS CORUS STORIES
Widow to sue steel
firm over work death
A widow is to sue steel maker Corus over
the death of her husband. Bob Powlay, 54, was crushed by a three and
a half tonne plate at the pipe works in Portrack, Stockton. She said
evidence from the inquest into her husband's death and the report
of the investigation which followed the tragedy, conflict with some
of the evidence offered in mitigation by Corus at the court.
Risks
93, 15 February 2003
Fatal
accident costs steel firm £10,000 fine
Steel maker Corus has been fined £10,000 over the death of a fitter,
crushed under a three-and-a-half tonne steel plate. Bob Powlay, 54,
of Coatham Road, Redcar, had carried out welding work on a roller
which had sheared on a 48-year-old conveyor belt at the Portrack pipe
works, Stockton. Mr Powlay died in hospital, three weeks after the
incident in the steel mill on 17 October 2000.
5 February 2003 report
• This
is the north east, 6 February 2003
Worker
killed at Corus is named
A steelworker killed in an accident yesterday at the Corus works has
been named as 39-year-old Gary Birkett from Crowle.
Scunthorpe
Telegraph, 6 November 2002
ISTC
fund set up for Corus blast victims
A special fund has been set up for the victims of the explosion at
the Corus steelworks in Port Talbot. Three w orkers died in the November
2001 blast.
Risks
29, 24 November 2001
Union
probe on fatal blast
The injury toll from the 8 November explosion at the Corus steel plant
in Port Talbot has risen to three fatalities, with five men still
on life-support machines and another five still hospitalised.
Risks
28, 17 November 2001
