Wimpey fined £300k for trench collapse

Prosecutions and Claims |
12.12.2007

Housebuilding giant George Wimpey (North East) and subcontractor A W Cowan have been convicted of failing to protect site workers after a trench collapse fatally crushed one and seriously injured another. Judge Peter Bowers said the situation on site amounted to "gross negligence bordering on recklessness".

On 8 March 2004, foreman Neil Dunstan and his colleague Karl Buck, employees of A W Cowan (Groundworks), were working at a housing site near Skelton, where Wimpey was principal contractor.

The two men were at the bottom of a 2.5m-deep, 12m-long drainage trench, fitting a pipe, when a colleague above saw a crack appearing in the earth and shouted a warning. They tried to escape but were caught in the collapsing clay. Workers tried to free Dunstan but he died as a result of his injuries. Buck suffered serious injuries and was in hospital for several weeks.

HSE inspector Michael Brown told HSW the trench was not adequately supported, despite another excavation on the site collapsing just a couple of weeks earlier.

"They had screeded the sides at the very top," he explained, "but it certainly wasn't up to the job."

Wet weather and an excavator working close to the edge of the trench on the day of the accident made the collapse more likely.

"Both Wimpey's site manager and assistant had seen workers in the bottom of the trench," added Brown, "but they had done nothing about it."

Wimpey pleaded guilty at Teesside Crown Court to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act for failing to ensure the safety of people not in its employment. It was fined £300,000 plus £28,367 costs. A W Cowan admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Act for failing to protect its employees and was fined £20,000 with costs of £5,000.

"The accident was due to a very serious lapse in the safety procedures carried out by the site managers, Mr Petty and Mr Moorhead," said Judge Bowers. "They ignored their own safety manual, their own common sense and experience when they knew Mr Dunstan and others were working in this lethal, dangerous trench."

The judge added that A W Cowan - which employs 35 people - was negligent for failing to ensure Dunstan reported unusual requests from Wimpey.

"I am satisfied the culpability from [managing director] Mr Cowan was one of ignorance of the extent of the work his men had to do on site,"  he said.