A young engineer died when he became wedged between a lift and the wall of its shaft while carrying out repair works at the headquarters of dairy giant Müller, an inquest has heard.
Lewis McFarlin, 24, of Tean, Stoke-on-Trent, suffered multiple traumatic injuries after becoming trapped at the site in Market Drayton on January 14 last year.
Mr McFarlin had been working for RJ Lift Services when he was asked to look at the two-ton goods elevator alongside colleagues Richard Fuller and Ryan Wintle.
The Stoke City fan – described by his friends as a ‘legend’ – was inspecting the top of the lift when it moved suddenly, causing him to fall and become stuck between the lift and the lift wall, jurors heard.
Emergency services were called to the scene but nothing could be done to save him.
Senior coroner for Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin, John Ellery, told the jury: “This is an accident at work.”
He added: “Lewis and two colleagues were working at a premise, at Müller UK at Market Drayton.
“On the day in question, Lewis and two colleagues went to repair lifts at Müller UK, having carried out certain repairs they were asked to look at a two-ton goods lift in the production area.
“At some point Lewis had been standing on the roof of the lift, the lift moved suddenly and unexpectedly, Lewis became trapped between the lift and the lift wall and suffered fatal injuries and that’s what caused this inquest.”
Mr Ellery said that there was nothing significant in his toxicology report.
Mr Fuller, a lift engineer at RJ Lift Services for over 20 years, was asked to look at the goods lift, and told the inquest that when it was loaded, the doors on the ground floor would not open.
He added: “We realised there was a problem. Lewis got on top, as far as I can remember it was on the middle floor.”
Mr Fuller told jurors that Mr McFarlin identified an issue with the locks on the landing doors and had brought the lift down to allow him to enter and work on fixing the issue from the inside.
Once they were happy they had finished the job, he said the plan was for Mr McFarlin, still on top of the lift, to take it down to the ground floor to allow him to exit, so it could be tested.
But he said the lift unexpectedly went up.
He said: ‘I was expecting to go down and he went up.
‘I couldn’t see anything as the doors were shut. I waited to go down, you can hear the pump kicking in, Lewis has shouted ‘woah woah woah’, then I heard a scream and it stopped.’
Mr Fuller said he was not in control of the lift.
Their co-worker Mr Wintle opened the doors on the first floor and saw the top of the lift was level with the floor.
He told the inquest that he could see Mr McFarlin’s head and arm poking out and tried in vain to free him.
He then went to the motor room and slightly lowered the lift, which exposed the upper half of Mr McFarlin’s chest.
However he ‘still couldn’t get him out’ and rushed to call for help, but there was nothing emergency services could do to save him, jurors heard.
The inquest is scheduled to last for three days.
