Trench collapse fatality strips WH Malcolm of £100,000

Prosecutions and Claims |
08.11.2007

Father-of-three Kevin West died while working in a 2.6m-deep trench at a housing development in Windmill Road, Hamilton, in November 2004. He was asphyxiated when he became trapped under falling earth as one side of the trench gave way. Workers on the site and emergency services tried to dig him free but he did not survive.

The HSE's investigation found that another worker, who was not qualified to drive the vehicle, had parked a dumper truck too close to the edge of the trench, which caused the earth to collapse. Because of the  depth of the excavation, the company should have used trench sheets to provide support. There were trench sheets on the site, but the site manager thought the ground was safe and did not need support.

WH Malcolm admitted failing to protect employees as required under Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. Imposing a £100,000 fine on 22 October at Hamilton Sheriff Court, Sheriff Marie Smart said the fine was in no way meant to measure the loss of life and what that meant to the family.
"There was a massive failure on their part to provide safe working conditions that day. I think a company that size, with their annual turnover, will be happy with a £100,000 fine," West's brother Jim told reporters.

This was WH Malcolm's second conviction for health and safety offences in just three months. In July, Dunfermline Sheriff Court fined the firm £10,000 after it admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act by putting the public at risk in January 2006. In this case, it had failed to identify and mark the location of a buried intermediate pressure gas main, which released a substantial amount of gas.