Latest news with #Plymouth
BBC News
3 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Plymouth sign keeper Ashby-Hammond after trial
Plymouth Argyle have signed goalkeeper Luca Ashby-Hammond on a one-year deal following a trial at the club. The 24-year-old was released by Fulham at the end of last season having developed in the Premier League club's the past three seasons, Ashby-Hammond has had spells on loan with Aldershot, Crawley Town, Notts County and most recently Gillingham where he played four played for Plymouth in a pre-season 3-2 win against Truro City earlier this month. "He joined us in Austria, and it is not easy to come on a trip like that as a trialist, but he fit really well into the group," Plymouth head coach Tom Cleverley told the club website, external. "He has a calm, focused character, impressed us on the training ground, and adds depth to our goalkeeping department."Ashby-Hammond joins Plymouth with goalkeeper Conor Hazard in a race against time to be fit for the start of the new season on 2 August because of a knee injury.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Agonizing final moments of factory worker crushed to death in tire press revealed in report
A harrowing report into the death of a man whose head was crushed inside a tire press has revealed his agonizing final moments, along with dozens of safety failures at the factory where he worked. Marshall Hunt was sucked into a McNeil Akron Bag-o-Matic tire curing press at the Hoosier Racing Tire factory in Plymouth, a small town in northern Indiana, on February 7. 'Mr. Hunt's head was caught in the closed press, trapped between the heat shields of the tire curing press at the neck, and employees could not open it,' according to a nearly 800-page report from the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration (IOSHA). He died from blunt force trauma to the head and neck, according to the Marshall County Coroner. The 30-year-old left behind his two young sons, his longtime partner and a family whose grief has been compounded by the fact his death was avoidable, according to IOSHA. The state agency, which is responsible for enforcing OSHA rules in Indiana, uncovered a litany of failures at the plant, including an inadequate safety bar around the tire press which Hunt died on. 'This was waiting to happen to somebody,' Harmony Mahler, Marshall's sister, told Daily Mail. 'They were fined $7,000 for my brother's death. That's it. What motivation is there for them to have a safe environment? Everyone in that company's life is in danger, and they don't care because there's no recourse,' she said. GRAPHIC: In a police photo provided to IOSHA, Marshall is seen slumped over next to the tire press after employees lifted the machine up off him 'This is unlike any other experience I've gone through,' Marshall's brother Alexander added. 'This is universe shattering. Everything I've ever known in my entire life feels inside out and flipped upside down now. And yes, it does still feel like that.' Alexander, 35, said he was staying at his father's house when he got the call at 'three or four in the morning' on the day Marshall died. 'I pretty much collapsed to the floor,' he said. 'I was choking on my own words.' A Hoosier employee named Ethan Paul Keller was the first to notice that Marshall was caught in the machine, according to a police report obtained by Daily Mail. Keller told police he was working on a tire press in the same line as Marshall and saw him 'slumped over the press'. At first, Keller thought Marshall was looking at a pressure gauge, but he looked again a little while later and saw that his coworker was in the same position, according to the police report. That's when he went over and saw that Marshall's head was stuck in the press, police said. The tire press that Marshall got stuck in is pictured in the upright position hours after his death Managers were alerted and they rushed to the area with a manual override key that can immediately lift the press in an emergency situation. Officer Jesse Witkowski arrived on the scene shortly after the press was lifted and saw Marshall lying on the ground next to the press. He and another officer determined that he was not breathing and did not have a pulse. Before leaving the scene, Officer Witkowski entered a break room at the factory and asked two employees who knew Marshall if he had suicidal ideation. Both employees said he did not. The specific tire press that Marshall died on is capable of exerting pressures of 2000 pounds per square inch (PSI), according to workers interviewed by police. The human skull can only withstand 520 pounds of force before cracking, according to a bike-helmet study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics. The tire presses at Hoosier all have a metal safety bar that automatically stops the downward close of the press when it is touched or bumped into. However, IOSHA inspectors said it was inadequate because it didn't fully surround the press, as multiple pictures included in the report show. The safety bar, 'did not prevent employees from being caught between mold halves as the top mold closed,' the report claimed. Pictured: A nearly identical tire press machine to the one that killed Marshall is shown to have a safety bar that can easily be bypassed on the left or the right Marshall's death did not have to happen, according to IOSHA inspectors, who said that the tire press he was operating 'was inadequately guarded to the left and right sides of the safety bar'. Mike Hammond, who's been the safety manager at the Hoosier factory in Plymouth since 2013, told inspectors that Marshall was found to the left of the machine 'where the safety bar wouldn't have been activated,' per the report. Had it been activated while Marshall was operating the machine, the tire press would have stopped coming down. This problem wasn't unique to Marshall's machine. IOSHA investigators concluded that 28 other tire press machines in the factory had the same fault with their safety bars. Additionally, 30 of the factory's post cure inflators were deemed to be unsafe due to high risks of employees getting caught in them. Post cure inflators, typically known as PCIs, are the second step in the tire manufacturing process. A Hoosier employee at the Plymouth factory had their thumbs crushed in one of the PCIs on October 31, 2024, according to the IOSHA report. The incident didn't result in the worker being hospitalized, but on a February 10 walkthrough — three days after Marshall's death — inspectors pointed out several problems with the PCIs at the factory. 'The PCIs have no guarding at their pinch points and no barrier guards for their rotation,' said the report. And according to interviews conducted by the inspectors, no modifications were made to the PCIs in months after the worker injured their thumbs in the machine. As Marshall's family tries to pick up the pieces, Harmony decried Indiana laws that largely put a damper on negligence lawsuits against companies. The Indiana Workers' Compensation Act, for example, makes it so that employees are heavily restricted from suing their employer for injuries sustained while on the job, even if it can be proven that the employer was negligent. Instead, employees are required to go through the workers' compensation system to get payouts. Families trying to get death benefits for a worker's dependents are bound by the same constraints. Every other US state has these restrictions, which exist to streamline the process for compensating employees by preventing protracted lawsuits. In Indiana, there's a chance you can sue your employer if they intentionally hurt you or if provably committed a criminal act. 'If I cannot get them in a court of law, I will get them in the court of public opinion,' Harmony said, referring to Hoosier. Even before an employee's thumbs were injured, Hoosier was the subject of two IOSHA investigations, one that began in December 2021 and another in April 2022. Both probes found 'serious' safety violations, with IOSHA fining Hoosier $4,500 for each transgression. The agency said Hoosier was not in compliance with a federal standard called 'general requirements for all machines' in both instances. This rule stipulates that all machines in American workplaces need to be guarded by 'one or more methods' to protect 'the operator and other employees in the machine area.' The machines Marshall worked on lacked multiple safety measures, according to the IOSHA report. In the case of Marshall's death, IOSHA fined Hoosier $7,000 on May 6. The company decided to contest this on May 14, according to public records. Daily Mail approached Hoosier for comment about the nearly 60 machines at the Plymouth factory that were deemed to be severely lacking in proper guarding. Daily Mail also asked about the factory's prior lapses in safety that have been documented by IOSHA inquiries and whether any changes have been made since Marshall's death. The company has not responded. Marshall's brother, Alexander, recalled the shattering moment he was informed of his death. He was working the night shift as a delivery driver for Pizza Hut, so he happened to still be awake. 'I don't recall when exactly I got the call, but it was his girlfriend, Lexi,' he said, recalling his unease at being contacted so early in the morning. 'It was Lexi's mom actually on her phone, and she broke the news to me. She just told me, "Your brother had an accident working. He's not with us anymore." And I heard a bunch of first responders in the background,' he said. Eventually, one of the first responders got on the phone with him so they could begin making funeral arrangements. All of this being thrown at Alexander so suddenly was too much for him, he said. 'I kind of went into shock and just told them, I'll give you his details. Just give me a little bit. And I got off the phone and went from there. I woke my dad up and I told him Marshall's dead,' he said. His father was able to remain level headed but Alexander admitted that he 'did not take it well at all.' Marshall also had big plans with girlfriend Lexi that were tragically cut short, according to Alexander. 'He was going to marry Lexi in a few more months,' Alexander said. 'He was actually going to move into a home that I own in Arkansas.' 'He and Lexi were planning to move there as soon as he was able to,' he added. 'And once he got there, got a job, and got settled in back in that town, that's when he was gonna ask her to marry him.' Alexander only recently told Lexi this, since in the immediate aftermath, he didn't feel it was the right time to share it with her. 'She had a hard time coming with words,' he said of her reaction. She sat there quietly for a minute or two, he said, which prompted him to lighten the tension. 'I was like, "would it have been a yes or a no?" And I did get her to laugh. She said, "of course it would have been a yes."' Alexander said he and his brother had a strong bond. One of the things he'll miss the most about him are the talks they used to have. 'One of the things that really got to me the most when he was gone was — he and I, when we were together, just two of us, and just talking on long drives or whatever — I could have conversations with him that I just cannot have with anybody else in this world,' he explained. 'Like very deep conversations where no one else can really understand what we're talking about. He and I could. Only with each other.'
The Sun
a day ago
- Business
- The Sun
Treasured art-deco lido on UK seafront opens new cove, pool and cafe in £4.5million revamp
AN iconic lido with stunning coastal views has opened exciting new facilities as part of ongoing works. The major renovation has totalled £4.5 million and includes a new cove cafe and bar on the premises. 3 3 This historic structure has been part of the Tinside landscape for almost a century, celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. Originally opened in 1935, the premises was refurbished for the first time in 2005. And now, the Tinside Lido has officially opened new spaces, further enhancing its draw to tourists and locals alike. The outdoor pool has been carefully restored and reimagined as part of the UK's first National Marine Park. Underused areas of the Grade II-listed Art Deco building have been transformed as part of the development. Recent revamp The project was carried out to safeguard the space for future generations and has created a connection with Plymouth Sound. As part of the work, the first floor of the lido has been brought back into use as a flexible, multi-purpose space. It has been earmarked for youth activities, digital learning, training, and events, and is supported by a new kitchen and bar facility. Meanwhile, the sun terrace has been revitalised with a café pod and a pop-up event space. Ramped access has also been installed to ensure everyone can enjoy the stunning views. In addition, the building that provides both pool and cove access, has been remodelled to include improved accessibility and changing facilities. This work was made possible with funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund's Heritage Horizons Award, the UK Government's Youth Investment Fund and Levelling Up Fund, and Plymouth City Council. Councillor Tudor Evans OBE, Leader of Plymouth City Council, spoke about the revamp. 'People use the word iconic all the time but Tinside honestly is," he said. "It's treasured not only by the people of Plymouth but visitors from far and wide – and offers some of the most breathtaking views in the city, if not the country. Swimming safety advice Experts have revealed some of their top advice for both adults and kids heading to the water this summer: How to stay safe at the beach Gareth Morrison, Head of Water Safety at the RNLI said: "If you find yourself being swept out to sea in a rip, try to relax and float until you are free from the rip and you can then swim to safety. "If you see someone else in danger, alert a lifeguard or call 999 or 112 and ask for the Coastguard." How to stay safe at the swimming pool Tiny Hearts Education, former paramedic and CEO Nikki Jurcutz said: "Always put your little one in bright or contrasting colours that would be easy to find in an emergency. "It only takes 20 seconds to drown, little tips like this could save a life". An Auqabliss spokesperson added: ' Swimming toys such as noodles, dive rings, floaties and beach balls can be dangerous if left in the pool. ' Children may try to grab these from the pool's edge and fall in." How to stay safe at a waterpark Ali Beckman, Puddle Ducks Technical Director, said: "Never send a child down the slide on their own, not only are they going to be entering the slide pool area independently, they then have to exit the pool and wait for an adult. "And wave pools should be avoided until your child is really confident with water going over their faces and you know they are able to regain their feet independently. ' Waterparks are often very busy places and it's easy to lose sight of a child in a split second." "But it's not just a spectacular place to go for a swim and take in our amazing waterfront." He went on to say that the renovation has breathed "new life" into the area. 'This regeneration is such an important project for the city," the councillor continued. "It's not only protected a much-loved part of Plymouth's heritage. "It's helped to secure its future, by creating new, inspirational spaces that the whole community – and visitors to the city – can enjoy for many years to come. Exciting times are ahead.' Taryn Nixon, trustee at The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Chair of England – London and South Committee, also spoke about the work. 'Tinside Lido is a shining example of reinvesting in our heritage to create amazing new opportunities for people and for the city," she said. "The lido has been such an iconic part of Plymouth's identity since 1935 and thanks to National Lottery players it has been given new life, in its 90th birthday year, for completely new audiences to connect with Plymouth's rich ocean heritage. "The Heritage Fund is very proud to have been able to support this ambitious project and the wider Plymouth Sound National Marine Park through our Heritage Horizon Awards.' The National Lottery Heritage Fund launched the Heritage Horizons Awards in 2019 to support ambitious, innovative, and transformational projects hoping to revolutionise UK heritage. These awards help to transform lives and economies, and also put the UK at the lead of major environmental, cultural, and heritage projects. They also show confidence in the country's heritage sector to rebuild and thrive. Plymouth Active, which operates Tinside Lido in partnership with the Council, has also welcomed the project's completion. It noted its significance for the future of the lido and its commitment to giving every child in Plymouth the opportunity to learn to swim. Year-round space Rhys Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Plymouth Active, spoke to the Plymouth Herald about the revitalised space. 'We're delighted to see these new spaces at Tinside Lido open for the community," he said. "Tinside is a vital part of our mission to give every child in Plymouth the chance to learn to swim and develop a love for the water. "The new facilities also open up opportunities for events and activities that will help sustain Tinside for future generations.' The restoration also paves the way for new uses to support the lido's long-term sustainability, year-round. This includes the potential to host silent discos, open-air cinema events, and weddings,. These events would generate income that will help sustain youth activities beyond the five-year Heritage Horizons Award period. More on lidos Plus, another historic seaside lido, which has been abandoned for decades. And Britain's deepest lido, which boasts its own lagoon, is set to reopen after a three-year closure. An historic lido featuring an Olympic-sized swimming pool and waterslide has reopened after a £130,000 upgrade. Plus, a historic lido with "stunning" mountain views that has been abandoned for decades. 3
The Sun
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Olly Murs' pregnant wife Amelia shows off growing bump as she tells fans she's ‘90 per cent baby, 10 per cent bikini'
AMELIA Murs has shared a glowing update from her pregnancy in a sun-soaked snap on holiday. The 32-year-old fitness enthusiast posed on a sunbed in a bikini, resting her hand gently on her blossoming bump. 4 4 In the Instagram post, the body-builder, originally from Plymouth, joked: 'Currently 90% baby, 10% bikini #trimester3' Fans flooded the comments with support calling Amelia 'beautiful' and 'radiant,' with one writing: 'Pregnancy looks good on you,' and another adding: 'Love your cute bump xx.' Amelia and Olly, 40, tied the knot in July 2023 during a romantic countryside ceremony in Essex. The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named Madison, in April last year. Amelia was crowned the new Overall Pro UK Champion in 2021, also winning the bikini round. Her Instagram bio states she's a 4x bikini champion. The former bank worker revealed in 2018 how she juggled a full-time job with her bodybuilder. She said: "I was training weights six days a week followed by 15 minutes of cardio before coming back after work for evening cardio of 35 minutes, three times a week." Now she's expecting her second baby with Olly. He's spoken openly about the joys and shocks of fatherhood. The star, known for his chart-topping hits and role as a coach on The Voice UK, recently opened to pal Mark Wright on Heart Radio. Olly said: "Mate, it's been... you know when you have those weeks where you can't tell anyone? "It's been really exciting news for us both. A shock, we didn't expect it to happen this quick, but just yeah, amazing." He added: "We just want to grow our little family." Mark couldn't help but gush over his pal, as he exclaimed: "You should be so proud of yourselves. "You're the best mum and dad ever to Maddie, and the fact you're doing it again, giving her a little sibling, is just sensational." He added: "I love you mate, and I love the whole family, and I'm just buzzing for you." Olly then couldn't help but joke how he was going back to the very beginning of looking after a newborn again. He shared the baby announcement in a black and white video on Instagram The short black and white video showed the star on a romantic country walk with his stunning wife and their one-year-old daughter. Madison wore an adorable jacket which was emblazoned with the words; 'Big sis,' in capital letters. This was whilst Amelia held onto the string of Polaroids from her first pregnancy scan. He captioned the post: "We're so egg-cited to share this..… Another Baby Murs on the way." 4
BBC News
2 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Argyle 'working hard' to bring in new striker
Plymouth Argyle head coach Tom Cleverley says the club is "working hard" to bring in an experienced centre Ryan Hardie and Mustapha Bundu having left the club over the summer, the Pilgrims' attacking options are limited. Argyle have signed youngsters Bim Pepple and Owen Aseni, while wide players Jamie Paterson and Xavier Amaechi have also joined the club in the current transfer window."We all want those deals to be done as quick as possible," Cleverley told BBC Radio Devon."Now it's important that you don't bring the wrong one in, just because he's there to do."There's a premium price on League One strikers and people who can score goals at this level."We're working really hard and I'm confident we'll see one come in in the next 10 days."
