Crush horror

CRUSHED to death . . . Frank Dunne was killed while working at R Tindall Fabricators on Hargreaves Street

A FATHER OF TWO was crushed to death when steel pipes weighing over a ton fell on top of him at an Oldham engineering firm.

Frank Dunne (52), of Alston Avenue, Shaw, was found dead under a dozen 20ft-long pipes at R Tindall Fabricators on Hargreaves Street, where he was a yardman.

Evidence at the first day of an inquest into Mr Dunne’s death yesterday revealed he had been buried under the large pipes for 90 minutes before bein found by a colleague.

Mr Dunne’s widow Deena burst into tears as the heartbreaking evidence was heard at Oldham County Court yesterday.

Though there were no witnesses, it is likely a bundle of 12 pipes stacked on top of another bundle by Mr Dunne came undone and crushed him as he stood by it.

Pathologist Dr Philip Lumb said Mr Dunne was crushed so heavily he would have been unable to breathe and would have lost consciousness in seconds. He also suffered multiple rib fractures that also damaged his lungs, and a torn aorta which led to massive internal bleeding.

Most of Mr Dunne’s time at work was spent loading and unloading bundles of pipes from trucks.

Alex Blunt, a worker for another company sharing the yard, heard a loud bang and felt the pipes hit the cabin he was in at around 8.15am on April 17, last year. He looked but didn’t realise there was someone under the pipes. Around 90 minutes later Mr Dunne was found by one of his colleagues.

Mr Dunne had been using a fork lift truck to move the tubes round the site and was vastly experienced with that type of vehicle, the court heard.

Mr Dunne’s colleagues unknowingly walked past the stack of pipes under which he was buried and some even used the forklift truck, yards from where he lay.

Robert Whittaker, an employee of R Tindall Fabricators Ltd, told the court how he found Mr Dunne:

“Looking at the bundles you couldn’t see anything but when I got on my hands and knees I could see Frank under the steel.”

Emergency services rushed to the works

Fellow workers said Mr Dunne hadn’t seemed himself and looked tired in the weeks leading up to the incident.

Police ruled out any suspicious circumstances or third-party involvement.

Evidence is yet to be heard from a number of witnesses, including the Health and Safety Executive.

The inquest resumes today.