Accidental verdict on worker's death at quarry

By [mdaniels]

A Sleaford supervisor plunged to his death when he fell through a gap in a walkway at a Derbyshire quarry.

An inquest was told that Paul Plumb (46) was working for Lincoln-based sub-contractors GAME Engineering at the time of the accident on January 25 last year.

He was working on a conveyor installation project at Tunstead Quarry, near Buxton, operated by Tarmac.

Mr Plumb, GAME's site supervisor, asked employee Chris Holiwell-Brown to remove a damaged section of the walkway and knock it back into shape with a sledgehammer.

Mr Holiwell-Brown was straightening the metal grille when Mr Plumb was called by fitter Philip Sturman about another task.

Mr Plumb turned around, ducked under a shoulder-high metal beam that crossed the walkway, and then plunged more than five metres through the void in the walkway to a concrete floor.

He suffered multiple injuries and was declared dead soon afterwards at Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport.

Kevin Wilson, an inspector with the Health and Safety Executive, which investigated the incident, said: Mr Plumb was a very conscientious, diligent worker – almost a perfectionist.”

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death on Mr Plumb, of Alexandra Road, Sleaford.

For more on the inquest, including the reaction from GAME Engineering, see Saturday's Lincolnshire Echo.