Man jailed for six years following fatal fall

One man has been jailed for six years and another for eight months after two incidents on the same day left one man dead and another with life-changing injuries, after falls from a roof they were repairing.

Allan Thomson Director of the main contractor was jailed for six years and fined £400,000 after he and his company Building and Dismantling Contractors Ltd were found guilty of safety breaches. The sub-contractor, Michael Smith and his company C. Smith and Sons (Rochdale) Ltd were also found guilty. Mr. Smith was jailed for eight months and fined £90,000.

It was heard in court how, on 21 January 2014, despite a near miss at height the previous day, four men began dismantling the roof of a building, which was made up of steel corrugated sheets with interspersed plastic skylights, which had deteriorated over time and had subsequently been covered with corrugated steel sheets in a bid to repair the damage.

One of the men fell through a skylight to the concrete floor below at around 9am, fracturing his spine, pelvis, right leg, heel and wrist.

Despite their colleague suffering horrific injuries, the men were ordered to return to the roof just hours later and at 4pm Scott Harrower fell through a skylight to the concrete below. He suffered catastrophic head injuries and died as a result.

Mr. Harrower had himself been involved in the near miss the previous day after stepping on a skylight. On that occasion he managed to prevent himself from falling, but despite the near miss the men had returned to carry out their work the next day.

The investigation found that on winning the contract for the work it was originally planned that machinery would be used to remotely bring down the structure, a method that would have entailed minimum risk to those workmen tasked with the demolition.

However, before work commenced, the decision was taken by Mr. Smith that the building should instead be dismantled piece by piece, meaning workmen would be required to work at height to remove the roof sheets prior to the structure being unbolted.

Smith and Sons then subcontracted the job of dismantling the roof to Allan Thompson’s company, Building and Dismantling Contractors Ltd, which was based in Scotland.

This led to the work being carried out by the men at height, leading to the death of one man in circumstances that were easily preventable.

Allan Thomson was found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter and both he and his company Building and Dismantling Contractors Ltd were found guilty of offences under Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and for breaching regulations 4 and 7 of the Work at Height Regulations at Manchester Crown Court, Crown Square, on 3 February 2016. Allan Thompson was jailed was six years, fined £400,000 and was ordered to pay £55,000 court costs.

Michael Smith and his company C. Smith and Sons (Rochdale) Ltd, were found guilty of offences under Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and for breaching both the CDM Regulations and Work at Height Regulations. He was jailed for eight months, fined £90,000 and ordered to pay £45,000 court costs.

Detective Chief Inspector Richard Eales said:

“It is clear from the evidence that both Smith and Thomson saw an opportunity to make a quick profit without any thought for the workers they sent on to the roof, and as a direct result of that greed Scott died and another man suffered life-changing injuries.”

After the case, HSE Inspector Sandra Tomlinson, said: “Falls from height, and in particular falls involving fragile roofs, are one of the main causes of work-related deaths in Britain. The risks are therefore well known and documented, as is the guidance on how to reduce these risks.

“The roof dismantling works were not properly planned or supervised and adequate precautions, such as netting, were not put in place.”

“This led to two men falling in separate incidents and resulted in one man suffering life-changing injuries as well as the dreadful tragedy of Mr. Harrower’s death.”

Sentencing after worker dies in trench collapse

A self-employed contractor has been sentenced after an employee died when the trench he was working in collapsed on him.

Swansea Magistrates’ Court heard how William Ryan Evans was contracted to construct a drainage field comprising of infiltration pipes laid at the bottom of deep trenches. He employed two workers and a subcontractor excavator to undertake the work at Longstone Farm, in Pembrokeshire.

The worker entered the trench to remove a clump of soil that had fallen into the trench when it collapsed, burying him. He died at the scene.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident, which occurred on 26 June 2012, found that the work was not planned appropriately and the risk assessment was not suitable or sufficient. The workers were not appropriately trained and suitable equipment to prevent a collapse were not provided.

The self-employed contractor was found guilty of breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was given a six-month custodial sentence.

HSE Inspector Phil Nicolle said:

“This tragic incident could have been prevented by undertaking a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks, providing the correct equipment or safe working methods to the workers and managing and monitoring the work to ensure it was done safely.

“Work in excavations needs to be properly planned, managed and monitored to ensure no one enters an excavation deeper than 1.2m without adequate controls in place to prevent a collapse.”