Fireball steeplejacks families paid £300,000 each

Prosecutions and Claims |
08.11.2007

Urging firms not to pay lip service to health and safety, Steve Cottingham of law firm OH Parsons, who acted for the families, said: "Companies must be forced to realise that workers are not expendable in the quest for greater profits."

Paul Wakefield and Craig Whelan, from contractor Churchill Steeplejacks, were killed while working on a 60-metre-high factory chimney on 23 May 2002. They were cutting down the chimney from the inside using hot cutting equipment when a flammable tarry residue coating the chimney ignited. The heat burnt through the cables holding up the cradle carrying the two men and it fell to the ground. In June 2004, three Metal Box managers were fined a total of £17,000 after they admitted health and safety offences. They had originally faced manslaughter charges but these were later dropped during a trial at Preston Crown Court. The two families, backed by construction union UCATT, sued Carnaud Metal Box, which eventually agreed to a settlement of over £300,000 each. Whelan's mother, Linda Whelan, who is a founder member of pressure group Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK), was not involved in the case.

"Craig's brothers and I have never sought any money and we have had no part in the civil case and the compensation payment to Craig's daughter and his girlfriend," she said. "My case has always been for justice for Craig and for action to stop workers' lives being treated so cheaply. Millions of pounds would not compensate me for my son's smile or his presence at my table."
Alan Ritchie, general secretary of UCATT, agreed that "nothing can ever recompense a family for the loss of a loved one" but added that he hoped the compensation would ensure the families do "not suffer continued financial misery".