Bolton lift horror - firm fined
Craig Jones sustained multiple injuries after he plunged five floors
A property management firm has been fined £120,000 after a man died when he fell down a lift shaft at a block of flats. Craig Jones, 27, sustained multiple injuries after he plunged five floors at Marsden House flats in Bolton where he lived, in August 2014. Mr Jones and a friend had been trapped in the lift and were unable to raise the alarm. They then forced the doors open and slid out, but Mr Jones slipped under the lift car. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Warwick Estates Property Management Limited failed to take suitable and sufficient steps to prevent the self-rescue. The company, based in Harlow, Essex, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and on Friday at Bolton Crown Court was fined £120,000 and ordered to pay £45,000 costs, said the HSE. Following sentencing, Mr Jones's mother, Samantha said: Hopefully, no other mother will have to suffer the pain and anguish I have had to endure as a result of a similar accident.I will have to live every day with the knowledge that my son died needlessly because the firm tasked to maintain the lift where he was trapped failed to do so. He had his whole life in front of him and it was taken away by incompetence.'' Her lawyer, Clare Campbell, of Leigh Day, said:The fine is justice of a kind in that it serves to alert other companies that maintain buildings and their lifts that incorrect or inadequate maintenance can and will be heavily punished by the HSE. We are pursuing a civil action against Warwick Estates Property on behalf of Samantha, but no amount will ever come close to compensating her for losing Craig.'' HSE inspector Sarah Taylor said:Those who manage lifts have a responsibility to ensure they are properly maintained but if people are trapped they have a way to raise the alarm and are not in a position to try and rescue themselves. The problems with this lift were well known and if Warwick Estates Property Management Ltd had fulfilled their health and safety responsibilities Craig Jones would probably be around to celebrate Christmas with his family this weekend.''