The Price of Inexperience and Greed

A sobering reminder that lying to cover mistakes you have made in serious cases does not work.

A young, 23 year old, was on his first day of work for a company when he was told to do a job which ultimately lead to his death. The worker in question was very inexperienced in construction and demolition, with no training and was at his first day of work because the company was short of labour. He was told by the owner to dismantle a chimney on a house they were working on, by using a power tool in one of the houses bedrooms. As a result, and because there was no support structure in place, the chimney collapsed through the roof and trapped the worker below. He died as a result of his injuries.

When interviewed the owner of the building company said that the employee had only been told to sweep up on the site. However the Police did not believe his story as the power tool had been specifically hired for that day. He lied to try and cover his mistakes. In addition, he did not do a risk assessment for the work, did not supply supports such as scaffold or props, or the most sensible option, did not use a cherry picker from outside.

The company owner pleaded guilty to gross negligence manslaughter and breaching sections 2 (1) and 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The sentence is still being deliberated but the judge has warned that the seriousness of the offence and subsequent lying, does merit a custodial sentence.