Second fatality for Dawson-Wam

Prosecutions and Claims |
15.10.2007

Bedfordshire civil engineering firm Dawson-Wam has pleaded guilty to safety breaches after a second worker fatality in seven months. On 4 October, the company was fined £100,000 plus £76,000 costs by a Croydon judge for failing to safeguard John Walsh who was killed in August 2002 when the auger drive unit of a piling rig flew off its stand and struck him.

Walsh had been trying to drag the drive unit away from its backplate using chains connected to an excavator; other means of removing the unit had previously failed.Dawson-Wam admitted to having inadequate risk assessments and not giving Walsh sufficient training and instruction.

In April, Dawson-Wam was fined £75,000 for failings that led to the death of another employee, Peter Roberts, who was killed when attempts to clear a blocked hose used to pour concrete resulted in it rearing up and striking him on the head. At the time, the judge accepted that Dawson-Wam had previously had a good safety record.