Construction failures – directors jailed

Construction failures – directors jailed A Greater Manchester construction company (SR and RJ Brown Ltd) has been fined £300,000 for Corporate Manslaughter, and two of its directors have been jailed for 20 months after covering up the events that led to a worker’s death. The directors attempted to cover up events after the death of a worker. The court heard that the directors (and a worker) conspired to hide the safety management failings to make it look as if the victim had taken off his harness before he fell and ignored had management instructions. The two directors (brothers) were sentenced to 20 months after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice and failing to ensure the safety of employees and others.

The fatal incident

On 10 December 2014 a worker (BE) fell from the roof of a metal structure he was helping to dismantle in Ramsbottom, Bury. He suffered catastrophic head injuries and died hours later at Salford Royal Hospital. At the time of the fall, BE was working for SR and RJ Brown.

Greater Manchester Police, which led the investigation alongside the HSE, found that no safeguards had been put in place to prevent the fall, such as harnesses, netting or a fall restraint system. Scaffolding was not used and a full risk assessment was not completed. It was reported in the Manchester Evening News that RJ Brown composed a ‘grossly inadequate’ risk assessment before the job which he did not show to anyone. After BE was rushed to hospital he then typed up another risk assessment, which should have been done beforehand.

Another employee was spared jail after he followed orders to bring safety harnesses to the site after his colleague had fallen in an attempt to conceal what had happened. His four-month sentence for perverting the course of justice, which he admitted, was suspended for two years.

More construction failures – directors jailed. A groundworks company, MA Excavations Ltd, appointed SR and RJ Brown Ltd to undertake the work. MA, director at MA Excavations Ltd, said he believed that SR and RJ Brown Ltd were ‘competent’ and could complete the job safely, but the court heard he did not check their qualifications. MA pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £150,000. A director of this company was sentenced to 12 months in prison for failing to ensure the safety of others at work and failing to ensure that the work was planned and managed.

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