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On 18th January 2012, a team from Cape Industrial Services Ltd was installing an access scaffold to enable the relining of the inside of a steel plated tapered cylindrical structure at the Cemex cement works in Rugby.
Warwick Crown Court heard last month how John Altoft, aged 29 and from Scunthorpe, fell to his death after being struck by falling debris inside an industrial tower. He had been planning to marry his fiancée just a few weeks later.
He was part of a team working inside the Cyclone 1 tower during a routine maintenance shutdown when concrete debris dropped on to him, causing him to fall seven metres to the bottom of the structure. His colleague Ty Smart was also seriously injured, with wrist and arm fractures, and has been unable to work since the incident.
Cyclone 1 is 131-metres high and nine metres across. It is a steel-plated tapered cylindrical structure that is an integral part of the pre heater tower system designed to circulate and dry the product at high temperature. The work on Cyclone 1 was within a confined space area and required work at height. This was the first time that relining had been attempted.
Inspectors from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) told the court that both Cemex UK Operations Ltd and Cape Industrial Services Ltd Scaffolding should have co-ordinated and planned the work to a higher standard.
Cemex UK Operations Ltd of Coldharbour Lane, Surrey, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. It was fined £700,000 and ordered to pay £90,783.78 in costs.
Cape Industrial Services Ltd of Stockley Bridge, Uxbridge, Middlesex, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act. It was fined £600,000 and ordered to pay £90,783.78 in costs.
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