A West Midlands firm has been fined after a teenage worker's arm was amputated after being crushed during the demolition of old Grand Cinema in Ramsey town centre in Cambridgeshire.

Thomas Bird, from Lichfield, Staffordshire, was working as a labourer for UK Demolition Services Ltd on the old cinema site in Great Whyte, Ramsey on 17 March 2010.

Mr Bird, then 19, was loading debris into the selector grab of a hydraulic excavator when it swung round and hit him, crushing his right arm against the building. He was airlifted to hospital but surgeons were unable to save his arm and it was amputated below the elbow.


An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found the operator of the excavator failed to switch off the ignition when he left the driver's seat. He lifted the side arm located by the driver's seat but while getting out of the vehicle he caught his coat on the side arm. This pulled the side arm back down, which in turn engaged the hydraulic power and then allowed the excavator boom to swing into Mr Bird.

Huntingdon Magistrates' Court was told today the firm had failed to put in place arrangements to ensure construction plant did not inadvertently move and put ground workers at risk of being struck.

UK Demolition Services Ltd of Brownhills Business Park, Lindon Road, Brownhills, Walsall, West Midlands admitted two breaches of health and safety legislation: Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974; and Regulation 37 (1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. It was fined £4,000 for each breach and ordered to pay £3,500 costs.

(CD/GK)