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

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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

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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.”

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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

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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