'Worker was crushed between roof and cherry picker' (From Oxford Mail)

'Worker was crushed between roof and cherry picker'

6:31pm Tuesday 18th November 2008 in

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A construction worker who died in August at the Marriotts Close development site in Witney was crushed between a steel roof rafter and the platform of a cherry picker.

The circumstances of the fatal accident, not previously confirmed, emerged this week in a statement from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Despite an emergency airlift by helicopter from the centre of Witney on the morning of Friday August 19, 28-year-old Altin Balla, from near Aberystwyth, died at Oxford’s John Radcliffe hospital from extensive injuries.

No details were released in the wake of the accident, with the investigation handed over by local police to the HSE.

This week, however, the HSE released a short statement. HSE spokesman Oliver Jackson said the investigation was still going on, but told the Oxford Mail: “It is clear that the accident occurred as a result of the operator of a mobile elevating work platform (cherry picker) being crushed between the top edge of the elevating platform and a roof rafter of the incomplete steel framed building.”

The inquest into Mr Balla’s death will be carried out by the Oxford coroner. No date has yet been fixed.

A spokesman for the construction firm said it would not comment until the HSE investigation was finished.