Huddersfield bricklayer paralysed by falling 300kg girder on Deighton site

Jun 30 2010 by Nick Lavigueur, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A BRICKLAYER was left disabled after he was crushed by a steel girder at a Huddersfield building site.

The accident at Strata Homes’ Suede development in Brackenhall, left Anton Burrows, 24, permanently paralysed from the chest down.

The incident happened on April 7, 2009, but has only just come to light during a prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Mr Burrows, a sub-contractor on the new homes development on Oxley Road, was crushed after a forklift truck driver accidentally dropped a 300kg beam on him.

Alasdair Green, prosecuting for the HSE, told Huddersfield magistrates that Mr Burrows suffered severe injuries and would need 24-hour care for the rest of his life.

Magistrates heard that while Strata Homes had done a proper risk assessment for lifting the heavy beam into place, the man who decided to install the beam had not been the person picked for the job during the safety plan.

Using a forklift truck, the worker lifted the beam into place on top of brick pillars with Mr Burrows as assistant.

But while manoeuvring his forklift truck, he accidentally knocked a lever dropping the beam onto the 24-year-old bricklayer who was standing below.