Bar chain is fined £48k over worker’s lift-crush tragedy
ANATIONAL chain of bars has been fined for safety failures after an employee died in an accident in a Swansea lift.
Cyran Stewart was transporting heavy chairs in a service lift at the Walkabout bar in Swansea city centre when one of the chairs moved and crushed him.
The 20-year-old was trapped in the elevator for more than half an hour before firefighters managed to free him. He was rushed to hospital, but died four days later.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched an investigation following the 2014 death, and on Tuesday Walkabout operators Intertain Ltd – now owned by Stonegate Pub Company Ltd – appeared at Swansea Magistrates Court having previously pleaded guilty to five offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
With credit for guilty pleas the firm was fined a total of £48,000 and ordered to pay more than £15,000 in prosecution costs.
A 2018 inquest into Mr Stewart’s death heard that in the early hours of September 24, 2014, the deceased had been helping to clean up the bar following its popular weekly Carnage student night.
Just after 3am he was transporting eight heavy chairs in a goods lift at the Wind Street premises, and in order to get that number of chairs into the elevator had overridden a safety mechanism on the inner door - something other staff members also did on occasion.
The inquest heard that as the lift was going up, one of the legs of an upturned chair caught on the ceiling of the floor above, and moved - the former computer student was crushed against the inside of the lift cage.
Colleagues raised the alarm after hearing Mr Stewart’s screams, but a special key for opening the lift in an emergency was missing, and paramedics had to wait for firefighters to force it open before beginning treatment.
A jury at Swansea coroner’s court returned a verdict of accidental death in the case following a twoweek hearing.
On Tuesday the magistrates court heard safety inspectors examined the lifts in Walkabout in the days following the death.
In the opening of the prosecution case by Swansea Council, the court was told an investigation revealed the lift had missed its regular sixmonthly thorough examination – the last such examination had been some 962 days before the fatal incident.
A lift specialist with the HSE, Jamie Davies, said in his opinion the lift was in a poor condition and should not have been in use at the time of the fatality.
Elizabeth Tremayne, on behalf of the defendants, said the company had effective health and safety procedures in place at the time of the incident, but they “did not work” on the occasion in question.
She said the firm’s lifts and hoists were subject to monitoring and audits both internally and from three external contractors – namely Zurich, Pickerings, and Perry Scot Nash (PSN) – and no problems with the Swansea lifts had been flagged up.
She said the defendants were “genuinely regretful” for what had happened, had co-operated with the HSE investigation, and made changes to procedures following the death.
District judge Neale Thomas fined the company £48,000. The firm will also have to pay £15,130 towards costs – a sum agreed between prosecution and defence.
The Wind Street Walkabout closed in January, and the future of the site remains uncertain.
Along with Walkabout, Stonegate based in Luton - owns a number of bar brands including Slug & Lettuce, Yates, Popworld, Classic Inns, Proper Pubs, and Town Pub & Kitchen.