Road worker hit and killed by crane arm, inquest hears

A jury recorded a verdict of accidental death at an inquest into the death of a road worker who was killed after being crushed by a lorry-mounted crane against a stabiliser leg.

Larry Newman, 37, a foreman with Balfour Beatty Mott McDonald, was part of a team which was working to repair badly-damaged central reservation barriers after a lorry crash on the A2 near Barham on 1 October 2012.

According to a report on KentOnline, a lorry-mounted crane was brought in to deal with a difficult concrete block weighing three quarters of a ton.

The inquest, which took place at the Guildhall in Sandwich, heard that the block slipped back into a trench and the crane arm moved, smashing Mr Newman’s head against a stabilising leg.

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

To read a full report of the inquest see the KentOnline article here.