Firm fined over death of crane driver who sacrificed his own life to save others

A firm has been fined £700,000 after a hero crane driver was killed as he fought to stop his 125 tonne vehicle with faulty brakes from crossing a public road.

Father-of-two Lindsay Easton, 49, lost control down a steep descent at Scout Moor wind farm in Edenfield, East Lancashire and crashed into the banking of an escape lane after steering away from an access road to a public highway, potentially preventing more deaths.

The experienced operator from Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, died of multiple injuries following the crash in August 2011.

Today Baldwins Crane Hire Limited was fined £700,000 with £200,000 court costs after being convicted by a jury at Preston Crown Court last month of corporate manslaughter.

Senior management at the firm had not being their jobs properly, the court heard.

Passing sentence Judge Pamela Badley said: “The jury decided that the cause of the crash was brake failure and it was as a result of gross negligence on the part of senior management of the company who had failed to put systems in place for safe working and monitoring.”

She added that it was the belief of Mr Easton’s family that he “prevented others from being harmed ... by driving into the escape lane and suffering the consequences himself”.

A joint police and Health and Safety Executive investigation found several of the wheel brakes were inoperable, worn and contaminated, while the engine braking systems were discovered to be either non-functional, disabled and damaged providing only limited braking force.

Several other of Baldwins’ cranes were then also found to have significant issues which required immediate work.

And there was a lack of supervision and recording taking place of organised maintenance work by senior management.

Speaking after the hearing, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Kevin Jones said: “I also wish to pay tribute to the heroic actions of Mr Easton which helped prevent an even greater potential tragedy by his attempt to stop the crane on the run-off lane rather than continuing down the access road and onto the public highway.”

In a victim personal statement read to the court, Mr Easton’s widow Susan said that the lives of their family had “changed forever”.

She said: “When someone goes to work you expect at the end of the day that they should come home.”

Outside court, his daughter Chelsea Easton added: “My little brother has become a teenager, I’ve graduated from university and become a teacher. As far as I’m concerned he (her father) should have been there.

“He wasn’t ill, he didn’t put himself in a reckless situation. He went to work and he died in a situation that could have been avoided.”

Detective Sergeant John McNamara of Lancashire police added: “The brakes on the crane driven by Mr Easton that day were in a shockingly bad state and this was a disaster waiting to happen.

“Mr Easton’s death was wholly avoidable.”

Simon Antrobus, defending, said the company had learned the safety lessons and that the firm, which employs 200 people, did not deserve to be put out of business.

The company had made an unreserved apology to Mr Easton’s family which he repeated in open court.