The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Engineer was not competent, FAI hears
A junior engineer who was repairing a crane on the new Queensferry Crossing when part of the machine fell off and killed another worker was not trained or competent to carry out the task in the manner he was doing it, a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the tragedy was told yesterday.
John Cousin, 62, sustained “unsurvivable injuries” after the 550 kg jib of the broken-down 18-tonne Giraf track crane fell on him while the fitter, Stewart Clark, was preparing to replace a leaking hydraulic hose.
Mr Clark, 29, told the inquiry earlier that he had just removed a pin securing the jib when the incident occurred. He said that he had left in place a second pin as he knew that if both pins were removed the jib would fall.
He said he turned round to get a spanner, heard a noise, and was struck on the back of the head. The next thing he said he remembered was seeing Mr Cousin lying on the ground, bleeding heavily.
A specialist mechanical engineering inspector at the Health and Safety Executive, Dave Gostick, said Mr Clark, who worked for the crane’s owners, the GGR Group, had not been provided with any training on how to move or deploy the fly jib on the Giraf track crane.
Mr Gostick said the training Mr Clark had been given was “not fit for purpose”.
Advocate Barney Ross, for the family of Mr Cousin, who came from Simonburn, Northumberland, but had a flat in Dunfermline, asked Mr Gostick: “Was Stewart Clark trained and competent to move the fly jib?” Mr Gostick replied: “No.” He added: “Neither Mr Clark or Mr Laing had received familiarisation training on the MC805 so in my opinion shouldn’t have been working on them.”
The FAI continues today.