Firm makes a statement after death of pit worker (From Worcester News)

Firm makes a statement after death of pit worker

1:40pm Saturday 21st July 2012 in News

A WORCESTER engineering company has extended its deepest sympathy to the family of a miner killed when one of its products malfunctioned.

Yorkshire pit worker Ian Cameron died when a powered roof support, made by Joy Mining Machinery, of Bromyard Road, crushed him.

Leeds Crown Court ordered the company to pay £150,000 in fines and costs after the firm pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety regulations.

A similar malfunction had occurred in Australia, and the firm had issued a warning bulletin about the fault to its customers abroad, but failed to notify UK customers.

In a statement, the firm said it had reached an agreement with the Health and Safety Executive to plead guilty.

It said: “The agreed basis of plea formally acknowledges that while Joy inadvertently failed to distribute a service bulletin in the UK, there was no causative link between Joy’s mistake and the accident.

“In addition to acknowledging its error, Joy had fully co-operated with the authorities throughout the investigation, including making Joy’s testing facilities available to the HSE, which assistance the HSE acknowledged saved considerable time and expense.

“We believe that based on the facts there are considerable mitigating factors in Joy’s favour, and that the amount of the fine imposed by the court reflects what Joy believes was our limited role in this tragedy.

“Joy extends our deepest sympathy to the Cameron family. We recognise that any fatality is a tragedy and something that everyone in our industry must continually work to avoid.”