Firm fined £3m after workers fall off cherry picker

Specialist metal cutter Stephen Picken was described as "the best in the country" by colleagues

A recycling company has been fined £3m after a demolition worker died and another man was left with life-changing injuries when they fell from a cherry picker.

Stephen Picken, 62, died at the scene and Mark Kumar was seriously hurt when they were dismantling an old gas rig for Veolia ES (UK) Limited in Great Yarmouth in 2019.

The men were cutting the rig when a large piece of metal fell off and struck their aerial platform, catapulting the pair off it.

The company admitted health and safety failings and received the fine at Ipswich Crown Court.

The men were removing an overhanging piece of pipework, known as a skirt pile, weighing in excess of 27 tonnes.

It hit the cherry picker containing the workers, throwing them to the ground 12-14m (40-45ft) below.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) identified serious failings with the planning and risk assessment, which did not adequately cover the planned works.

Shortcomings in supervision of the incident were also identified.

Veolia was fined £3m after admitting failings

Mr Picken, who was from Stoke-on-Trent, specialised in cutting metal with oxy-propane equipment and was described as "the best in the country".

Veolia had admitted failing to discharge its duty to an employee in breach of Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

At a sentencing hearing on Monday, Veolia was fined £3m and ordered to pay £60,000 in prosecution costs.

HSE inspector David King said: "This incident, in an emerging industry, highlights the level of controls required to safely demolish what are large, dangerous structures.

"Veolia did not meet these standards and tragically one life was lost, and another forever changed."

At an inquest into Mr Picken's death, the company said it had implemented changes.