Firm fined after employee crushedA firm has been ordered to pay £45,000 at the Old Bailey after a fitter was crushed to death in a lift accident in central London.
Andrew Bates, 40, was killed as he worked on a refurbishment of the lift at a surveyors' firm in Mayfair.
Mr Bates was caught between the top of the lift where he was working and the top of a fourth floor landing door after damage to a cable had caused the lift to shoot upwards suddenly, the court heard.
The experienced lift operative was carrying out routine work for J Brown Services Ltd of West Kingsdown, Kent, on December 6, 2005, when the accident happened.
The company admitted a charge under health and safety law.
Richard Tutt, prosecuting, said: "At 2.45pm a scream was heard coming from the lift shaft and Mr Bates was found trapped between the top of the lift car and the top of the landing door on the fourth floor."
Firefighters managed to release Mr Bates but he did not respond to treatment and was pronounced dead later that afternoon, the court heard.
Investigators discovered that he had been using a hand-held controller to operate the lift. A cable from the controller snagged on a bolt in the lift shaft causing it to break, leading to an "unexpected upward movement".
The company was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £25,000.
Copyright © Press Association 2010
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