Companies fined after docks death

A port firm and a shipping company have been fined a total of £185,000 after a ferry worker died at Newhaven Docks in Sussex.

Luigi Feola, 38, from Sardinia, drowned in 2005 and post-mortem results revealed he had a head injury. Following the incident, health and safety investigators found that the badly-lit quayside where he fell did not have proper edge protection and both companies had failed to assess the risks at the site.

The Italian shipping company Forship SpA, which owned the Sardinia Vera ferry that Mr Feola was a crew member aboard, was also discovered to be allowing him to work an estimated 100 hours a week for the firm.

Forship was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £43,782 in legal costs at Croydon Crown Court on September 22. The company admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Newhaven Port & Properties Limited, which is responsible for maintaining the quayside, was also in court and it received an £85,000 fine and was ordered to pay £34,000 towards prosecution charges. The company admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, as well as failing to maintain the docks as required by an Improvement Notice issued after the incident.

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