Firm in court over Hartlepool dock worker’s death fall


A PORT company is being prosecuted over the tragic death of a worker.

If you employ agency workers / casual workers / sub contractors / zero hour contracts you are still responsible for these people

PD Ports is being taken to court by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after dock worker 59-year-old Robert Harrison - who was employed by an agency - was killed in a 30ft fall on a ship at Hartlepool, in September 2012.
PD Ports is being prosecuted for an alleged breach under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Representatives for the company appeared at Teesside Crown Court yesterday.
They were not made to sit in the dock but in the court behind the company’s barrister.
Mr Harrison is understood to have been supervising the loading of large steel pipes into the hold of a vessel at Irvine’s Quay when he fell from a platform.
He fell around 30ft, approximately eight metres, down a hatch on to the steel floor of the hold of the ship, the Bright Ocean.


Lawyers for PD Ports asked for more time to consider a HSE report of the incident and to consult their own expert before deciding whether to plead guilty or not guilty to the offence.
Barrister John Williams, for the company, said: “My application to adjourn is to allow the defendant more time to finalise our expert evidence and advise my client appropriately on plea.”
Mr Williams said any dispute in the case would focus on potential measures the HSE say could have been in place to protect Mr Harrison or other workers in the event of a fall.
The HSE launched an investigation following the tragic accident which happened at the dock on Ferry Road at around 7.30pm on Sunday, September 9, 2012.
A dock crane was used to winch Mr Harrison to the shore, from where he was flown to the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough by air ambulance.
Their efforts were in vain and he died shortly after arriving at the hospital.
Recorder Martin Bethel QC adjourned the case until Friday, June 12, when please on behalf of PD Ports, of Queen’s Square, Middlesbrough, are due to be taken by the company.




Posted: 15 Apr 2015 03:05 AM PDT
Paddy Crumlin
Paddy Crumlin
The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) has expressed its condolences to the families and colleagues of three experienced dockworkers who died on Saturday in Antwerp, Belgium, after entering a ship’s hold to unload coal.
ITF president and chair of its dockers’ section, Paddy Crumlin, said: “Our thoughts are with the families, their colleagues and friends of these three men. This must be a desperately sad time for them.
“We can never relax on port safety and accident prevention. Antwerp is a port where health and safety is taken very seriously, and, like the three men’s trade unions, we are confident that a full investigation will take place into what happened and how any resulting lessons can be implemented.”
He concluded: “Dock work is dangerous work and everyone involved must always do everything possible to minimise the risks. This is a timely reminder of the importance of Workers’ Memorial Day on 28 April (28april.org), whose message is ‘Remember the dead, fight like hell for the living’.”

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