A man has been crushed to death and another has been injured at an aircraft components manufacturing plant in Darwen, Lancashire.
The two men, aged 50 and 61, were reportedly manually moving metal girders at Brookhouse Patterns Ltd’s factory near Blackburn. The girders fell on top of the pair and trapped them underneath. Emergency services freed them using industrial airbags which they inflated to create space between the equipment and the men.
The incident happened on Tuesday morning and the men were taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital. The younger man died at around 4am yesterday morning (Thurs 18).
Detective Inspector Claire Holbrook said: “This was a tragic incident where one man died and another man was with seriously injured.
“We are dealing with some very traumatised members of staff who have sadly lost a colleague.
“A full and thorough investigation will now be carried out and the management have been very keen to assist us.”
Brookhouse, bought by the US-based Kaman Aerospace Group in June, employs 465 staff at the site. A full health and safety inspection will now be carried out by the firm but they did not wish to comment on the incident at this point.