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Lift manufacturer fined after engineer crushed to death at Heathrow

Lift manufacturer Schindler Ltd. has been fined £300,000 for safety failings after an employee was crushed to death while installing a passenger lift at Heathrow Airport.

Lift engineer Kevin Dawson, 45, was helping with the construction of Terminal 5A at London Heathrow when the incident occurred on 27 October 2007.

Isleworth Crown Court heard that Mr Dawson was working from a ladder within the pit of a lift shaft, into which he and other Schindler employees were installing three new lift cars. As a colleague used one of the cars to fetch equipment from a higher level, a counterweight descended, crushing Mr Dawson and causing fatal injuries.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed the unfinished passenger lift was used to carry workers, tools and materials despite missing key safety-critical components.

The company, of Green Street, Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and Regulation 8(1) of the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 in relation to the incident.

The company was fined £300,000 for the three breaches and ordered to pay £169,970 in costs.

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