Lift firm admits charges over death
Lift company ThyssenKrupp Elevator has admitted it breached health and safety laws which contributed to the death of a young Polish banker.
Katarzyna Woja, 32, was crushed to death at Broadgate Health Club in the City of London in March 2003 after the lift fell and she was trapped between it and the shaft.
At Southwark Crown Court on London, Nicolas Purnell QC, representing the lift company, pleaded guilty on its behalf to failing to discharge its duty under the Health and Safety Act 1974.
ThyssenKrupp Elevator will be sentenced on May 14 along with gym company Holmes Place Health Clubs.
The company admitted failing "to conduct its undertaking in such a way as to ensure that persons not in its employment were not thereby exposed to risks to their safety".
These failures included not maintaining the lift between street level and the health club in an adequate state of repair; failing to maintain the lift in accordance with its contractual obligations; and failing to adequately investigate or identify the cause or causes of previous sudden failures.
ThyssenKrupp Elevator had previously denied similar health and safety breaches.
Gym company Holmes Place Health Clubs has already admitted three counts of breaching health and safety laws under the Health and Safety at Work Act. It will also be sentenced in May.