£59,000 fines for fatal shock

Prosecutions and Claims |
12.11.2007

Two firms have been convicted for failing to protect a young worker killed after a concrete pump he was handling struck 11kV power lines. RL Davies & Sons and Permanent Flooring have been ordered to pay a total of almost £59,000 for a lack of written risk assessments and controls that led to the death of 19-year-old Miall Gwyn Roberts in May 2004.

Roberts worked for a firm contracted to provide labour to RL Davies & Sons, who were principal contractor on a project to build a factory at Bala Industrial Estate in Snowdonia for the Welsh Development Agency.

He was pouring concrete for the foundations of a factory using a mobile pump when the pump's raised boom struck the power line, severing it and fatally electrocuting him. Pump operator Darren Gittins also received a shock but was not seriously harmed.

The Crown Prosecution Service subsequently decided not to pursue RL Davies or Permanent Flooring -which was contracted to supply the concrete pump and an operator - but the HSE pressed charges against both firms.

HSE inspector Chris Wilcox told HSW the contractors knew the risk of operating the concrete pump near the lines, but hadn't completed a written risk assessment; the only control measure was a verbal instruction to the driver of the truck on where to park it. The pump had been parked a safe distance away in the morning but had been moved closer to the lines before the accident, to make pouring easier.

"This was a very high-risk operation: using a concrete pump on a site crossed by overhead lines," Wilcox said.

"We would have expected them to have a very robust written method statement properly communicated to the workers involved in the job with probably a pre-start meeting on the morning of the concrete pour, plus some markings on site so everybody knew the proximity of the lines."

Network Operator SP Power Systems had been due to remove the lines the week after the accident to accommodate the steelwork for the factory structure.

"Ideally they should not have done the concrete pour until the lines had been moved," said Wilcox.

At Mold Crown Court on 18 June, Judge Dafydd Hughes fined RL Davies & Sons £25,000 plus £15,800 costs for breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. Permanent Flooring was fined £6,000 plus £12,000 costs for a similar charge and was convicted, but not fined, for a charge of failing to safeguard their employee, Darren Gittins.