Great Yarmouth demolition worker death from height accidental

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

The death of a demolition worker who fell from height while dismantling a decommissioned gas rig was accidental, an inquest jury has concluded.

Stephen Picken, 62, who was from Stoke-on-Trent, was working in Great Yarmouth outer harbour in Norfolk in 2019.

He was cutting a rig with a colleague from a cherry picker when a large piece of metal fell off and struck the platform, catapulting the men off.

The Norfolk coroner found the platform had been placed in an unsafe position.

Stephen Picken was working on a decommissioned rig at Great Yarmouth outer harbour when he fell from height

The inquest was told Mr Picken specialised in cutting metal with oxy-propane equipment and was "the best in the country".

While he was dismantling the rig on the morning of 17 October 2019, a metal column toppled to the ground, hitting the platform on the way, and throwing the men to the ground from 12-14m (40-45ft) up.

A post-mortem examination found Mr Picken's cause of death was multiple injuries due to an industrial accident.

His colleague Mark Kumar was injured but survived.

Mr Picken, who was on a cherry picker with a colleague, was cutting up this gas rig when a chunk of metal struck their platform

Mr Picken had been employed by Veolia Environmental Services to cut through an overhang on the rig from the cherry picker.

In her summary, senior coroner Jacqueline Lake said the risk assessment and method statements did not provide details regarding the positioning of the cherry picker, known as an mobile elevated work platform (MEWP), while the cutting was being carried out.

"During the work the overhang gave way prematurely and fell hitting the ground, striking the MEWP in the process," she said.

"The MEWP was placed in an unsafe position."

Work permits under the approved code of practise are issued for work at height and work involving cutting techniques, the coroner said.

"On this day no permits were issued," she said.

Evidence was heard with regard to the coroner's duty to prevent future deaths and Ms Lake said she was satisfied with the procedures put in place by the company since the accident.

In a statement, Richard Hulland, chief risk and assurance officer at Veolia Environmental Services, said: "We take safety very seriously and are devastated by this incident.

"We carried out our own investigation and with the cooperation of the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) have implemented further measures to prevent this from happening again."