Colchester dad died after a ton of metal fell on him (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)

Colchester dad died after a ton of metal fell on him

7:00pm Monday 25th June 2012 in North Essex By Caroline Tilley

A “HARD-WORKING” father died after a metal enclosure weighing a ton fell on him at work, an inquest heard.

Dominik Molak, of Cotswold Court, Colchester, was crushed in the accident at Powerplus Engineering, in Langham, last year.

Work colleagues discovered Mr Molak, 30, underneath the enclosure, and more than five people worked to roll it off him.

He was taken to Colchester General Hospital but died two hours later.

A post-mortem examination found the father-of-three had died from traumatic crush and asphyxial injuries.

At Chelmsford Coroner’s Court, Mr Molak’s death was ruled an accident.

The court heard Mr Molak’s wife, Justyna, was the last person to speak to him after she rang him on his mobile at 10.47am on the day of the accident, June 9, 2011.

Two colleagues then found him underneath the unit, which had been resting on trestles, at 11.20am, with only his head and chest visible.

It is not known how Mr Molak was crushed by the unit, which weighed more than a ton, but Health and Safety Executive investigators believe it could have toppled on to him if he pulled it while manouvering underneath.

The court heard Mr Molak, a paint sprayer who had come to Britain from Poland in 2008, had been cleaning the unit to prepare it for painting.

David Rudland, Health and Safety inspector, said Mr Molak had done nothing wrong and the unit had been tested by inspectors after the incident.

He said: “I would have been prepared to go underneath it myself.

“We had to try to understand how the enclosure came to be resting on Mr Molak and went through a number of scenarios.

“We came up with the theory he was probably underneath the enclosure and perhaps went to pull himself out with enough force to cause it to topple.”

It is believed the force Mr Molak would have used to pull himself from underneath the unit would have been enough to snap the trestles, pinning him to the floor.

Mr Rudland said Mr Molak could not have known about how much force it would have taken to have caused this to happen, as he was not an engineer.

At the inquest on Friday, colleagues paid tribute to Mr Molak, saying he was hard-working and responsible.

The inquest heard Health and Safety inspectors have decided not to take any further action.

Inspectors said the equipment Mr Molak had been using at Powerplus Engineering was safe and the company had a good attitude to health and safety.

It has since brought in new measures, of its own accord, where trestles supporting a raised enclosure are joined together to form a platform.

Eleanor McGann, deputy coronor, directed a jury to return a verdict that Mr Molak died by accident.

Mrs Molak declined to comment after the verdict.

But paying tribute to her husband, following his death last year, she said: “He was a big man, but he had a soft, romantic side. He was one in a million.”