Legal and Safety Concerns in the Workplace
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Code : GOV0061
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Region : UK |
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The Accident
In December 2008, NEMOC hired Turnbull, trading as A&H Site Line Boring and Machining, based in Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham, to dismantle a large building including the structural steelwork of the roof of the Burning Hall at Swan Hunter shipyard in Wallsend, Newcastle. The Trial A four-week trial began on April 22, 2013, at the Newcastle Crown Court. Prosecutors said that Joyce was working from one cherry picker, while his two colleagues were working from another cherry picker and a crane. They were dismantling the structure and were using a crane to lower the steel beams to the ground. While removing a beam brace connecting two plate girders, one of the plate girders struck the basket of the cherry picker in which Joyce was standing, knocking the equipment over. The death of a worker could have been avoided but for the failure to abide by health and safety guidelines, they said... The Judgement Turnbull later admitted that he had never dismantled structures of this size before. Turnbull had pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) by virtue of Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. As Turnbull was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence, he was jailed for three years. While sentencing him to three years in prison, the judge said Turnbull had not given a truthful account of what had happened... |
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The Road Ahead Speaking after the case, specialist prosecutor in the CPS Special Crime Division, Alison Norton, said: "Work in the shipyard was clearly dangerous and carried serious risks, but the real tragedy in this case is that had a safe system of work been put in place to appropriately manage these risks, Kenneth Joyce’s death could have been avoided."...
