A machining manufacturer based in County Tyrone has pleaded guilty to health and safety failings following the death of an employee.

Mr Steven McTeague sustained fatal injuries as a result of being crushed between two mobile stone crushing machines which were stored along with others in a stockyard area at the company's Omagh premises on Killyclogher Road.

He had been tasked with moving one of the machines, using a handheld controller, from its parked position in the stockyard. During this operation the front of the machine veered towards a neighbouring parked machine, causing Mr McTeague to become trapped. Tragically Mr McTeague sustained fatal crush injuries to his chest.

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The company in question, Terex GB, has been fined £150,000 over the incident.

HSENI Inspector Kyle Carrick said: "Our thoughts are with the McTeague family today. Steven's tragic death could easily have been avoided if his employer had properly considered the risks associated with the movement of mobile plant within the stockyard.

"Risk assessment is a relatively straightforward process. It simply involves identifying the risks and putting measures in place to manage them. In this case careful consideration as to the layout of the stockyard would have gone some way to preventing this tragic incident from occurring.

"Manoeuvring mobile plant using handled controllers poses significant risks if operators cannot safely maintain good separation distances during the movement of such equipment."

(CM/MH)