Jury find sports club guilty of safety breaches following week-long trial

A Welsh sports and leisure club has been found guilty of breaching health and safety laws following the death of a man who broke his neck falling from a low wall at a party in June 2012. The sports club was found guilty of failing to provide adequate lighting of the patio where the incident occurred.
Sully Sports and Leisure Club, Penarth, South Glamorgan, owned by Barry Plastics Sports and Leisure Limited, was found guilty by a jury in less than two hours, following the week-long trial. The decision was unanimous.
The prosecution argued that the club had breached health and safety laws by failing to provide adequate lighting by the patio area as on the night in question the lights weren’t working.
Recorder Ian Murphy QC said that the prosecution had argued that there was nothing wrong with the wall, provided that it was properly lit by daylight or adequate lighting. It was heard that there was adequate lighting installed and it was safe, but on the night of the incident the lighting was so poor that it put Mr Kemp “at risk”.
It was further heard that Mr Kemp was “in perfectly good health” and that CCTV and family showed he was a “healthy and happy man when he came out of that club” and that he had been exposed to an unnatural risk to health.
The defence, led by barrister Ian Dixey, who specialises in health and safety law, had argued that medical evidence suggested that Mr Kemp was sitting on the wall and fallen off it. They stated that Mr Francis, who had been part of the club for 46 years and secretary for 32 years and was responsible for day to day running of the club, said there were weekly and monthly formal inspection routines and if anything went wrong “normally they were dealt with immediately”. Adding that health and safety was “very high on priorities”.
Barry Plastics Sports and Leisure Limited, trading as Sully Sports and Leisure Club, was found guilty of failing to ensure the health and safety of persons under their employment, namely the visitor Robert Kemp, and will be sentenced on July 14.
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Jury find sports club guilty of safety breaches following week-long trial
A Welsh sports and leisure club has been found guilty of breaching health and safety laws following the death of a man who broke his neck falling from a low wall at a party in June 2012.
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