Sellafield fined £150,000 for 95m-fall death

Jocelyn Dorrell | Prosecutions and Claims |
21.11.2008

Nuclear plant operator Sellafield and demolition contractors PC Richardson & Co (Middlesbrough) have been fined a total of £250,000 over the death of a worker who fell 95 metres from an unprotected ledge.

Neil Cannon, an employee of PC Richardson (Middlesbrough), was killed in January 2003 during work to decommission the Windscale Pile B6 chimney at the Sellafield plant in Cumbria. The chimney had not been used since it caught fire in 1957.

Cannon had been helping to remove steelwork inside the chimney when he fell.

An HSE investigation revealed that, though a platform had been built inside the chimney, workers had been using an unguarded ledge around 95 metres above ground level. Cannon had been trying to manoeuvre a girder off the ledge when it tipped upwards and a sharp bracket cut through his safety lanyard. The weight of the girder pulled him over the edge and he fell through a gap between the ledge and the working platform.

HSE principal inspector Mark Cottriall said a safe working method had been prepared for removing the steelwork.

"If this had been followed," he said, "Mr Cannon would not have had to leave the safety of the working platform... As often happens on construction projects, however, the proposed method was changed as the work progressed."

He added, "Ongoing monitoring of the work in progress should have identified the changes and the increased risk. If this had been done it is almost certain that a way could have been found to do the work without leaving the safety of the platform."

After a lengthy investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to bring charges of corporate manslaughter. But, after an inquest into Cannon's death in November 2005 recorded a narrative verdict, the HSE decided to pursue health and safety charges. The inquest verdict stated that the incident happened "in part because the written system of work was not being followed and appropriate and/or adequate measures to prevent this were not taken."

Sellafield (formerly British Nuclear Fuels), which was client and principal contractor for the project, admitted failing to take reasonable steps to ensure Cannon's safety, contrary to Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. On 20 November at Carlisle Crown Court, the firm was fined £150,000 and ordered to pay £50,000 costs.

Subcontractor PC Richardson & Co admitted failing to ensure the safety of its employees, in breach of Section 2(1) of the same Act, and was fined £100,000 with £25,000 costs.

Sellafield managing director Barry Snelson expressed "sincere and deep apologies" for the incident.

He said, "We owe it to Neil to make his death the last that ever happens on the Sellafield site ... It took the loss of an irreplaceable and precious life to set us on a journey of continuous safety improvement which will never end."