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May 15, 2013

Director and two companies fined after fatal scaffold fall

A director of a concrete structures firm has been fined £20,000 after a scaffolder died in a 19-metre fall at a building site in Swansea.

Bristol-based Febrey Ltd and its director, Michael Febrey, along with Carillion Construction Ltd, were all fined in relation to the incident, which occurred at the city’s Meridian Quay apartment development on 22 January 2008.

Swansea Crown Court heard on 13 May that Russell Samuel, 40, from Porth, south Wales, was contracted by Febrey Ltd to dismantle a scaffold ladder-access platform prior to the installation of a roof and staircase on the fourth floor of the apartment block.

He suffered multiple injuries in the fall, including a fractured skull, from which he died two days later.

An HSE investigation found Febrey Ltd had inadequate and ineffective health and safety management arrangements and there was little, or no communication, information and instruction provided for its workforce.

The management team on site was not adequately trained in health and safety, despite repeated warnings by its consultants. This led to persistent and systematic failures to control risks at the site, the court heard.

Despite his workforce having raised concerns about safety on the site, Mr Febrey did not take responsibility for the company’s failings and allowed the lax safety culture to continue.

Principal contractor Carillion Construction Ltd, of Wolverhampton, failed to ensure the safety of its employees and those under its control, amounting to breaches of s2(1) and s3(1) of HSWA 1974. It was fined £130,000 plus £52,500 in costs at an earlier hearing, in November 2012.

Febrey Ltd went into liquidation soon after the incident and received a token £85 fine at the November 2012 hearing for breaching s2(1) and 3(1) of HSWA 1974. In his sentencing remarks, Judge Thomas said that had the company still been solvent, the fine would have been in the region of £250,000.

Michael Febrey was fined £20,000 by Swansea Crown Court on 13 May after  pleading guilty to two breaches of s37(1) of HSWA. He was also ordered to pay £5000 in costs.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Anne Marie Orrells said that Febrey Ltd did not manage health and safety. She said: “Carillion had a duty to plan, manage and monitor the work. Febrey’s failings were all too apparent and Carillion were aware of them.”

Echoing the judge’s words, she said: ‘”Nagging and warning are one thing — positive, effective action is another. Carillion should have taken robust steps to remedy a situation of which they were perfectly aware.”

“Falls from height are still the biggest killer in the construction industry and this is the tragic reality of what can happen when adequate arrangements are not in place to manage health and safety.

“Mr Samuel was a young man who had a lot to live for. It is heartbreaking that his untimely death could so easily have been prevented.”

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