A Sheffield crane driver died from massive crush injuries just weeks before he was due to become a father, a court was told.

Alan Winters, 28, was killed when he and colleagues attempted to unload a four-ton crate from a shipping container at the DavyMarkham Ltd factory in Darnall, Sheffield, on 15 July 2008.

Sheffield Crown Court was told Mr Winters was one of a group of workers who had already tried several ways to move the crate from the container. In a final attempt, Mr Winters climbed on the back of a forklift truck to unhook a chain from a corner of the container but the forklift reversed too far and tilted up over the lip of the container, trapping him against the roof.

Mr Winters' partner, Laurie Swift, was nearly eight months' pregnant at the time and gave birth to their son, Alan Junior, only six weeks later. She and Alan had recently moved into a new home in Sheffield's Littledale estate with Laurie's daughter Leah, then seven.

The incident prompted a full investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and led to the prosecution of DavyMarkham Ltd for a major breach of safety legislation. The company has a 180-year history in South Yorkshire and is a major engineering business.


The court heard the firm was expecting the arrival of the container with two crates inside and had been anticipating difficulties unloading. Even so, an initial attempt was made to lift a five-tonne crate with a forklift truck that had a four-tonne capacity.

When that was abandoned, the site manager went away to carry out a risk assessment and find a safe way of getting the container from the lorry to the ground. In the interim, workers made more unsafe and unsuccessful efforts to unload the first crate before managing to drag it by the forklift out of the container.

A similar attempt to drag the second one from further inside was stopped as the wooden crate could be heard cracking. Finally, Mr Winters stood on the back of the forklift but the attempt ended in tragedy.

HSE Inspector Carol Downes said: "This was a terrible tragedy. Mr Winters' death had the most devastating impact on his partner, Laurie, and his parents, Kim and Alan. His son will also never meet his dad.

"It was also utterly preventable if proper assessment and planning had been carried out before unloading was attempted. None of the managers or supervisors thought to stop the work until a risk assessment was done or safe procedure found.

"The loading or unloading of lorries or containers needs careful planning and effective control. It must be considered a critical part of transport management. This case has shown that failure to be in control of these activities can lead to fatal results."

DavyMarkham Ltd of Prince of Wales Road, Sheffield, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to an offence under the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They were fined a total of £33,333 with £49,247 in costs.

(CD)