The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) have once again issued warnings about ‘A’ frames following the prosecution of a company where another serious crush injury led to a man having his arm amputated by the roadside.

Roy Bush, responsible for the stone industry and quarries at HSE, told NSS: “My message to stone companies is: don’t use ‘A’ frames, they ain’t safe – not without modifications to prevent the slabs toppling from the top and slipping out from the bottom. Unmodified A-frames are dangerous.”

He says HSE is in the process of producing a safety alert regarding ‘A’ frames that will be issued shortly.

The prosecution that led to the latest warnings was of Colin Parker (Masonry) Ltd of Spalding, Lincolnshire.

The incident that led to the company appearing at Margate Magistrates’ Court this month (November), happened in Ramsgate in September last year. A delivery driver’s left arm was amputated in an emergency roadside operation after slabs of stone weighing 220kg each fell on him. 

In court the company pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They were fined £3,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £10,603. 

The court heard that the driver was unloading three stone slabs from his lorry in September last year when part of the stack collapsed on him.

HSE criticised the company for not having a system in place to allow drivers to remove individual slabs safely.

HSE Inspector Caroline Penwill said: “This was a horrific incident which led to a delivery driver having to have his left arm amputated at the roadside.

“Colin Parker (Masonry) have now introduced a ‘toast rack’ system, which separates each delivery of slabs with metal poles. But at the time of the incident, drivers had to untie a whole stack just to remove one slab.

“The company also failed to provide proper guidance for their drivers, which meant, in this case, the stabilising legs on the lorry weren’t fully extended despite it being on a slope.

“It’s vital that companies think more about the safety of their staff while they’re out on deliveries or carrying out work. We’ve got to stop incidents like this happening again in the future.”