In case you are trying hard to remember where you have heard the name Alan Catterall, you need not worry. Because you probably haven’t. Alan Catterall was the victim of a horrifying accidental death in a factory in Cheshire. It was called Pyranha Mouldings, and it was probably around the year 2010 when this accident happened. It was his shock that caused his death.
He was around 54 years of age and used to work at Pyranha Mouldings in Cheshire. He was trapped inside an industrial oven when he got severe burns. Moreover, he used to work as cleaning staff. A Britisher by origin, Alan’s company, was a plastic kayak manufacturer known by the name Pyranha Mouldings.
The death was very tragic and painful, and the family had to go through a tough time. An appeal was alleged against the company where Alan worked and it later turned into a lawsuit. The result was in favor of the Catteralls, and they were finally content with the justice they were provided with. In this article, you are going to dive further into the reality of the incident, and many unknown facts will be unveiled.
Table of Contents
Before his death
Before his tragic death, Alan Catterall was a supervising staff at a kayak manufacturing brand Pyranha Mouldings Pvt Ltd. His shift included his cleaning duty at the industrial oven. He was a family man and had three children, along with a wife named Pearl. He had a son and two daughters. Alan belonged to Halewood, Liverpool, and then started living in Cheshire. His factory was situated at Premier Point, Runcorn.
The tragic incident at Pyranha
It was in the year 2010 when the incident of Alan’s death took place. He had gone to work and was on his regular cleaning job as a senior supervisor at the industrial oven marked 280 C. He went into the oven to clean the molten waste of plastic coming out of a mold. It was during this process that a fault occurred in the system, and the oven was shut off.
What is even more tragic is that he did try to raise the alarm but was eventually unsuccessful in his attempt. The gate of the oven went shut, and it eventually led to his death. Reports said that while he was stuck, he tried to escape using a crowbar to open the gate, but that was of no use as well. Some reports even said that he tried to scream and alert his colleagues about his condition, but it could reach outside the walls of the oven he was stuck in.
Later on, after his death, his family went into devastation after getting the news of their head’s death. They were even more devastated when they heard that it was the faulty system and negligence of the production house that caused the death of Alan Catterall. The family wanted justice for their member’s death. They filed a lawsuit against the Pyranha Mouldings, and the case moved to the jury for a final verdict.
The trail for justice by the Catteralls
It was a five-week-long trial that went on to get a verdict on the death of Alan Catterall. The question was to find out who was to be held responsible for his death. The juries came across many facts and cross-examined many figures to reach a final answer. As we move further on in the article, we will uncover many twists and turns that lay underneath the accidental death of Alan.
The first thing that the jury came to know was that Alan had gone to clean off the molten plastic that was formed due to the mold in the kayak manufacturing entity. A fault had appeared in the system, causing the molten plastic to form. The next thing that happened might shock or amaze you, but the fact is that a worker had switched on the oven without any idea that Alan might be trapped. The worker was Mark Francis, and the surprising thing is that he was due to marry Alan’s daughter in a few weeks while he was already engaged to her.
When Alan went inside the oven, Francis was unaware of the fact that someone was inside the oven. He turned it on, thinking that the fault had been resolved. And that caused the automatic door to shut to prevent any loss of energy immediately. One another drawback of the automatic door system was that as it closed, it was tightened with pins.
Further Incident Details
The statements made also included the fact that there was no emergency exit route or raising the alarm from the inside. This was taken as negligence of the company. And also the fact he kept shouting for help from inside while no one was able to hear his help due to the extremely noisy floor of the factory. What seemed even more horrifying was that no one came to know about the situation until smoke started passing out of the oven.
The trial that was taking place in Liverpool Crown Court after a prolonged judgment on the case passed its final verdict. The Pyranha Mouldings were held responsible for the death of Alan Catterall. The verdict was 10-2 in favor of Alan. It was also blamed for two more issues concerning health and safety. Peter Mackereth, the technical director of Pyranha, was held responsible unanimously for the incident.
Final words after the verdict
The Catteralls were greatly satisfied with the achievement of the justice they needed from. All of them expressed how happy they were with the decision of the court, especially the widowed wife, Pearl. After all, it really wasn’t the fault of a simple yet experienced supervisor, Alan Catterall.
