Jack Phillips was killed on 8th August 2019 while working for Brand Energy & Infrastructure Services (better known as Lyndon SGB) at South Cliff Tower in Eastbourne.
He had been helping to move sections of a temporary mast climbing work platform when a lifting sling snapped.
The sling, which was out of date, was suspended from the lorry’s loader crane, unloading heavy platform components. When it snapped, the load fell onto Phillips and crushed him to death.
An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and Sussex Police found that Brand Energy & Infrastructure Services – trading as Lyndon SGB – failed to properly plan the lifting operation and had failed to identify a requirement for safe exclusion zones. It also failed to have a suitable system in place to ensure all accessories had been thoroughly examined or disposed when expired. This resulted in out-of-date slings being used.
Brand Energy & Infrastructure Services UK Ltd, of Kingston Road, Leatherhead, Surrey pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It was fined £1,600,000 and ordered to pay £23,193.60 in costs at Brighton Magistrates’ Court on 27th November 2024.
HSE principal inspector Ross Carter said: “This tragic incident led to the wholly avoidable death of a young man. This death could so easily have been prevented if Jack’s employer had fulfilled its statutory duty to plan and manage the risks associated with lifting equipment and lifting operations.
“Brand Energy & Infrastructure Services UK Ltd failed in its duty of care to all its operatives, including Jack, in the way it planned and implemented the lifting operations and the slack customs and practices it allowed to become part of the safety culture with regard to lifting.”
