MYSTERY surrounds the death of a "baron" of civil engineering crushed by a 3.5-tonne tipper truck.
Ian Woolfitt, 65, managing director of a construction company, was found trapped in the hydraulic mechanism of an Iveco tipper truck.
But experts from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who spent hours dismantling the vehicle and painstakingly analysing parts, were unable to say why the tragedy had happened.
Mr Woolfitt, who founded Wold Construction Ltd in 1991, was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, a friend's haulage yard off Station Road in the village of Lockington, near Driffield, on April 24, last year.
It is thought Mr Woolfitt, who died of asphyxia, may have been retrieving a spare tyre stored within the chassis accessible only when the tipper part of the truck is in the upright position.
Dr Angus Robbins, a HSE inspector, said exhaustive attempts were made, in test conditions, to establish why the tipper had fallen onto Mr Woolfitt.
He told a jury who listened to two days of complex evidence: "We could find no fault that would have caused the unexpected lowering of the tipper."
Dr Robbins explained to the jury that in order to determine how workplace accidents happen, engineers will set out to repeat, in safe conditions, the tragic chain of events.
"Whatever has caused it, we could not repeat," he said.
In order to operate the tipper, a key needs to be placed in the isolator switch – a safety feature to prevent a load from being tipped while in transit, Dr Robbins told day two of the inquest.
Dr Robbins said the only way the tipper can be lowered is by a handheld controller, stored closed to the driver's seat, which has a cable long enough for the operator to get out of the vehicle and scan the area for dangers such as overheard power lines before unloading.
However, the cable was not long enough for Mr Woolfitt, found trapped within the chassis, for him to have operated the button.
Jurors were told the buttons are spring-loaded, meaning the operator needs to be have his finger permanently pressed on the button to work the tipper.
Examinations showed the vehicle itself was in a "reasonable" state of repair, with a valid MoT certificate, although some faults were identified.
Photographs of a corroded isolator switch were shown passed to the jury.
But Dr Robbins said while this may have prevented the tipper from being lifted, which may shed light on a clicking sound heard by firefighters as they attempted to lift the tipper, it not explain why it fell on to Mr Woolfitt.
A prop – a metal bar to prevent the tipper falling on to an operator working underneath – had not been used.
Coroner Paul Marks pressed Dr Robbins for an explanation for the tragedy.
Dr Robbins said: "There is no suggestion of third-party involvement, so I can only assume a fault developed, but we cannot replicate it."
Richard Lee, an electrical specialist at the Health and Safety Laboratory in Derbyshire, arrived at the same conclusion, adding: "We could not find any evidence of equipment failure."
Grandfather-of-six Mr Woolfitt, who lived with his wife Margaret in Lund, near Beverley, had 40 years' experience in the construction industry and was considering retiring.
At the time of the tragedy, an employee of Wold Construction Ltd said: "Ian was the baron if civil engineering. He was known by everyone."
Mr Woolfitt's sons Jonathan and Paul have taken over the running of the business.
The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.
