UPDATE: Forklift mechanic’s death was accidental

Published: January 19, 2012

The death of a mechanical engineer following the explosion of a fork lift truck tyre was "avoidable", an inquest has heard.

Gary Deaves, 48, of Ipswich, died as a result of the serious injuries he sustained when a wheel he was removing from the 1979 Hyster Challenger truck for maintenance exploded in his face. He was working for Associated British Ports (ABP) in its workshop at at Cliff Quay, Ipswich Docks.

He died six weeks after the incident, which happened on March 30, 2010. Doctors gave his cause of death as bilateral bronchopneumonia. The inquest also heard that the incident caused severe damage to Mr Deaves’ head.

The vehicle that Mr Deaves was working on at the time of the incident had dual wheels and pneumatic tyres, the inquest heard. At the hearing, David Gregory, an inspector with the Health and Safety Executive, said Mr Deaves’ death was avoidable.

It was also revealed that one of the wheels on the opposite side of the vehicle was tested by a tyre fitter just months before the tragic incident, and had corroded. However it is believed that tests were not carried out on the wheel that exploded. The inquest heard the tyre exploded, propelling the wheel off the axle of the vehicle, which was raised off the ground.

Mr Gregory believes that, as a result of corrosion, the vehicle’s inner wheel was creating huge amounts of pressure on the outer wheel when it was being removed. Once Mr Deaves had removed the penultimate bolt, it exploded.

He told Ipswich Coroner's Court that although there were "always alternatives" the "likely scenario" which he believed was "that the flange ring [of the wheel] became detached because of age and corrosion."

He said the explosion would not have happened if the tyres had been deflated, but that it was not standard practice to do this before they were removed.

Andrew Bowley, ABP's safety manager, told the court it was now standard procedure to deflate all tyres before removing wheels from axles.

Mr Bowley's written statement was read out by the coroner: "In my 37 years, I've never known rims come off like this."

UPDATE:

The inquest jury has returned a verdict of 'accidental death' of Gary Deaves.

The coroner's court heard it was not standard procedure to deflate tyres before removing wheels at the time. Since then, the port said tyres should be deflated on industrial vehicles.

David Gregory, Health & Safety Executive (HSE) inspector, told the inquest that if the tyres on this sort of multi-piece wheel had been deflated the explosion could not have happened, although it acknowledged it was not a HSE guideline at the time. Mr Gregory told the court that guidelines had since changed and ABP said it had changed its procedures as well.

Speaking after the inquest, Mr Gregory said he could not go into theories about what caused the explosion in case there was a prosecution. "HSE will take into account the verdict of the jury and consider what further action it may need to take," he said. "However, HSE is satisfied that both its own guidance and industry guidance is now better understood in respect of multi-piece wheels."

Alistair MacFarlane, ABP's port manager at Ipswich, said Mr Deaves was a "loyal and highly-valued member of the ABP team" and they were "greatly saddened by his tragic and untimely loss". "The health and safety of our workforce remains ABP's top priority and although the exact cause of the accident has still not been established, we have taken steps to try and ensure that such an accident cannot happen again," he said. "We would like to once again express our deepest sympathy to Gary's family."