BOSSES at an Inverclyde company have been hammered with a £10,000 fine after a near two-ton steel lathe toppled and crushed one of their workers.

Stricken William Speirs — who was helping to move the heavy item of machinery at Devol Engineering — suffered a catalogue of horrific injuries in the accident and was in a high dependency unit for 12 days as a result.

Greenock Sheriff Court heard yesterday how trapped Mr Speirs’ pelvis opened up like a ‘book’ under the immense weight while he also sustained six fractured ribs and a collapsed lung.

Devol — which had a previously unblemished safety record — pled guilty to a serious breach of health and safety legislation over the incident at its former Clarence Street base, which saw an air ambulance scrambled.

Procurator fiscal depute Louise Beattie told the court how Mr Speirs had been using metal ‘skates’ to move the 1.87-ton lathe from one side of the factory to another along with two colleagues.

But she said that the method employed had left the item ‘top heavy and unstable’, adding: “The skates were not fitted with rotating turntables to enable the lathe to be manoeuvred.” Ms Beattie said: “Mr Speirs then lay on the ground beside the lathe with his head positioned near the headstock end and was in the process of positioning a steel plate beneath the headstock end for it to be lowered onto.

“It was at this point that the lathe toppled over and onto Mr Speirs, crushing him beneath it.

“Employees of the company initially attempted to lift the lathe off Mr Speirs using slings and a fork lift truck.

“However, Mr Speirs asked them to stop as it was too painful.

“The emergency services were contacted and there was a rapid response by the fire brigade who lifted the lathes off Mr Speirs using an air cushion which was pushed under the lathe and then inflated to lift it.

“He was then airlifted to hospital.” Mr Speirs — who has suffered anxiety and depression as a result of the accident on 28 February 2012 — was moved from high dependency to Glasgow Royal Infirmary on 11 March that year for surgery to his badly damaged pelvis, which required the insertion of a metal plate and screws.

Ms Beattie told the court: “Following the incident Mr Speirs was in a great deal of pain and was prescribed morphine for six months.” A Health and Safety Executive probe found that no risk assessment of the task had been carried out and that the system used to reposition the lathe was ‘unsafe’ and ‘avoidable had reasonable precautions been taken’.

The company’s lawyer, James Varney, told how the firm was first incorporated in 1966 and employees 120 people in Inverclyde.

He said that senior board members, including managing director Peter Hall, were in court to ‘reflect the seriousness of the matter and the embarrassment the company finds itself in these circumstances’.

Mr Varney said: “The company tenders no excuses for the failings.” He added: “It is an otherwise well-run company and the board expresses publicly its remorse to the court and to Mr Speirs.” The court heard how Devol continued to pay Mr Speirs his salary during his period of incapacity and accepted responsibility for the accident at the earliest possible opportunity.

The company has now implemented new risk assessment procedures and its policy is to hire specialised contractors when machinery requires to be moved.

Sheriff Rajni Swanney said that the safety lapse at Devol had been ‘unusual for them’.

She added: “They have been employers in the local area for 50 years — this is their first prosecution, which in my view means that they have a proper approach to the importance of health and safety in their workplace.

“There is no doubt that the method employed to move the lathe was inappropriate and the terms of the report make that clear.” The sheriff said that she would have fined Devol £15,000, but the company was entitled to a one-third discount in view of its early admission of guilt.