A marine engineering company has been fined ￡75,000 after a teenage apprentice died when a ship's 970kg gearbox and propeller assembly overturned off a workbench and landed on top of him. Nineteen-year-old )ason Burden, who was in his fourth year as an apprentice engineer at Tyne Slipway & Engineering Co, was working on the tunnel thruster assembly on 8 December 2011 at the firm's Sunderland site. The thruster, which is housed in a T-shaped metal casing, sits in the hull below the waterline and enables ships to dock sideways. A routine periodic inspection had revealed wear and tear, so the thruster was removed to Tyne Slipway for maintenance, including putting in a new rope guard and a shaft seal change.
展开▼
