A firm supplying stone and marble to the construction sector has been fined after a worker was killed when granite slabs fell from a lorry loader.<\/p>\n
Steven White, 61, was offloading stone slabs at Blyth Marble Ltd’s depot in Larkhall, Lanarkshire, when the incident happened on 4 September 2024, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said.<\/p>\n
He had been working on top of the flatbed section of the lorry when two granite slabs, with a combined weight of over 900 kilograms, fell and struck him, causing fatal injuries, the watchdog added.<\/p>\n
An HSE investigation found that vertical safety posts, which provide a physical barrier to prevent slabs from toppling, were removed during the offloading operation.<\/p>\n
The watchdog said that despite it being \u201caccepted custom and practice\u201d for the posts to remain fitted during offloading, it was not specified in the company\u2019s formal procedures for safe working.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile lifting two slabs at once was regular practice, the company\u2019s Safe System of Work failed to distinguish between single slab lifting and multiple slab lifting and lacked specific instruction for handling multiple slabs,\u201d the HSE said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdditionally, White was working alone on the lorry loader, whereas the Safe System of Work specified that two people should be involved in offloading operations.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the HSE, Blyth Marble Ltd, of Carlton Industrial Estate, Carlton in Lindrick, Worksop, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.<\/p>\n
The company was fined \u00a350,000 and ordered to pay a \u00a33,750 victim surcharge at Hamilton Sheriff Court on 28 January 2026, the HSE added.<\/p>\n
HSE principal inspector Martin McMahon said: \u201cThis was a tragic incident which could have been prevented had the company made sure the appropriate safety measures were in place and followed during offloading operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmployers must ensure that safe systems of work are not only in place but are sufficiently detailed to address all foreseeable risks, including the requirement for safety equipment to remain in position and for adequate personnel to be present during hazardous operations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A firm supplying stone and marble to the construction sector has been fined after a worker was killed when granite slabs fell from a lorry loader. Steven White, 61, was offloading stone slabs at Blyth Marble Ltd’s depot in Larkhall, Lanarkshire, when the incident happened on 4 September 2024, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155153,"featured_media":537286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[581,578],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-537279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health-and-safety","category-legal"],"yoast_head":"\n