A roadside CCTV-repair worker died as a result of injuries sustained in a night-time fall because his employer had not made him aware of the fact that he was working near a drop.

Cecil Grant, 42, was repairing a faulty CCTV camera at a site near Junction 20 of the M5, between Clevedon and Gordano, during the night of 24 January 2006. The workers were using torches that they had purchased themselves, while the lighting afforded to them by their vehicle’s lights was partly obscured by bushes.

The CCTV mast had been installed on a bend in the road to enable monitoring of one of the lanes of the motorway, at a point where double barriers had been installed to protect people and drivers from the roadside edge. The mast, which was fixed on top of a concrete wall, overhanging a steep drop, was being lowered by Mr Grant via a winch mechanism, when he fell off the wall.

He dropped 12 metres down the side of the embankment into the bushes. He broke his back and suffered serious injuries, from which he died in hospital ten days later following complications.

HSE inspector Steve Frain told SHP that Mr Grant’s employer, Serco, had previously undertaken a survey of where cameras should be installed along the motorway. However, the survey was insufficient because those undertaking it had failed to get out of their car and check the location properly. Although the double roadside barriers should have been a strong clue to a potential hazard, the risk of the fall was missed.

As a consequence, Serco failed to plan, manage and monitor the work properly, leading to a failure to warn Mr Grant about the drop. The investigation also revealed that both Serco and principal contractor, Birse Civils Ltd, had failed to cooperate with each other to make sure workers at the site were not put in danger.

Birse had topographic maps of the area of the motorway and a safety plan, but failed to pass over these documents to Serco. Although Birse argued that its failings were not causative of Mr Grant’s death, the judge at Bristol Crown Court agreed with the HSE’s contention that they played a significant part.

Birse was fined £100,000 on 29 July, after pleading guilty to breaching reg.11(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, with costs of £18,093. Serco Ltd also pleaded guilty to the same charge, as well as a contravention of reg.4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, for failing to plan, manage and monitor the work properly. It was fined £100,000 on each charge, and ordered to pay costs of £36,186.

Inspector Frain said: “When employees are working at height, proper plans must be in place and workers made aware of possible risks. In this case, Mr Grant had not been made aware of the dangerous drop where he was working. If he had been, a tragic incident could easily have been avoided.”

In mitigation, both companies said they immediately put in place arrangements to maintain the camera. Serco also revised its survey policy to ensure that those undertaking surveys are clear what they should be looking for, and why.

Asked what could have been done to manage the risks of a fall, inspector Frain said extra handrails could have been fixed on the wall, if necessary. However, more fundamental was the question of whether the camera needed to be there at all, and whether the risk could have been removed by having more cameras at different locations along the motorway.

The incident took five and a half years to get to court, largely because the original Police investigation looked at possible manslaughter charges. Three Serco employees were arrested during the investigation, although no charges were ever brought.