Ongoing prosecutions

Death of unnamed Chinese national

Sharaz Butt, company director at Norwich-based Alcon Construction, charged with manslaughter after a man died in a fall at a Norfolk building site.

Police brought the charges following an investigation lasting more than two months. Mr Butt was released on conditional bail to appear at Norwich Magistrates Court on May 14.

A Chinese national working for Alcon Construction died after being left at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital by two colleagues on January 31.

He had been working on the refurbishment of The Panary, a bakery and café, in Trowse where it is believed he fell from height. Police are yet to formally identify the man but his family in China have been informed.

Det Sgt Richard Rallison, from the force's major investigation team, said, 'A joint investigation was launched by Norfolk police in conjunction with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Mr Butt has been charged with manslaughter along with four other offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act in relation to this incident.'

The death is the latest in a series of fatalities on refurbishment sites across the UK. The HSE says the number of deaths on such sites rose by 61pc in the past year as a total of 23 people were killed.

Stephen Williams, HSE's chief inspector of construction, said, 'It is totally unacceptable that so many lives have been lost and continue to be put at risk on construction sites, particularly within the refurbishment sector.

'We will continue to take firm action against rogue elements who ignore safety precautions. Sites where health and safety is taken seriously have nothing to fear, but we will root out those that put lives at risk.'

According to Contract Journal of 24 April 2008 recent provisional HSE figures showed 69 construction workers died in workplace accidents in 2007/08.

UCATT general secretary Alan Ritchie said, 'Although the death toll for construction has dropped slightly, these figures remain appalling, practically six building workers are killed every month.'

Death of Satnam Singh

Satnam fell 5-6 metres through a fragile rooflight whilst preparing to undertake work on the roof of a textiles factory in Smethwick. Work had already been undertaken to replace plastic rooflights following a burglary at the site and further work was being undertaken by Kundi Electrical to repair recurring roof leaks.

In undertaking this roofing work, equipment and building materials were being carried across roofs, which are well known in roofing and building industries to be fragile, when Satnam fell through and died later in hospital from the injuries sustained.

The roof of the textiles factory was being accessed up a ladder and across several different types of pitched roofs of several factory units and an adjacent engineering company, below which employees were working.

Pervez Mohammed Iqbal was charged with manslaughter in connection with Satnam's death and was due to stand trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court on 10 March 2008.

Death of Adrian O'Dowd

Adrian died in January 2007 when a wall fell on him as he worked on a patio.

Patrick Walsh is charged with Adrian's manslaughter and faces two charges of breaching health and safety regulations.

Adrian was working with Mr Walsh, who traded as Advanced Patios and Paving.

Mr Walsh appeared before Nottingham magistrates on 15 November 2007 and was due to stand trial at Nottingham Crown Court on 21 February 2008.

Death of Daniel Dennis

Daniel, a roofer, died in April 2003 when he fell through a skylight in the roof of a Matalan store at the Cwmbran Retail Park, Torfan, Gwent. Daniel had just started his first job with the roofing company and had not received any safety training or instruction on working at heights. His father had even contacted Roy Clarke who traded as North Eastern Roofing to warn him about his lack of training and experience. He was able to walk across part of the roof to access materials and the skylight, which was not cordoned off, gave way under his weight causing him to fall approximately 28ft (9m) to the floor below.

The inquest was held at Gwent Coroner’s Court in Newport on 15 March 2005. The jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing in less than 10 minutes.

Despite the inquest verdict the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided not to bring charges of gross negligence manslaughter against Daniel’s employer. Daniel’s father, Peter Dennis, commented, 'The CPS failed to bring charges which left us flabbergasted. Our son was killed within days of starting work, but there was no accountability for his employer. How is that justice? We want to ensure that other families never go through what we have.' Allan Garley, regional secretary of the GMB, said in April 2006, 'The death of a 17-year-old boy in his first week at work is an absolute tragedy. The GMB isn't after vengeance, but we want employers who kill workers to be properly held to account.'

Lawyers acting on behalf of Daniel’s family sought a judicial review of the decision made by the CPS. It is only the second time that the CPS has been brought to court in respect of a fatal accident at work. The review commenced at the High Court on 30th November.

In December 2006 Lord Justice Waller in the High Court judge ruled the matter should be referred back to the CPS. Giving his ruling on 29 December Lord Justice Waller said there were 'failures' over factors which influenced the CPS not to prosecute. The judge said a solicitor acting for the CPS did not take into account the 'seriousness of a failure to give proper instruction not to go on the roof prior to induction or proper instruction'. He also said the CPS had not taken sufficient account of the Newport inquest jury's unlawful killing verdict in March last year.

The judge said the matter should be referred back to the CPS and that it was possible that a different decision could be made when these factors are taken into consideration but the the final decision would still rest with the CPS.

After the ruling Peter Dennis said, 'This decision gives us some hope this new year that justice for Daniel will finally be achieved.'

Mick Antoniw, one of the solicitor's acting for Daniel's family, said, 'This is a landmark ruling as it's only the second case where the courts have interfered in a workplace death. We now expect the CPS to review and overhaul the way they consider the evidence in cases involving workplace deaths.'

In October 2007 Gwent Crown Prosecution Service reversed its decision and said it would now prosecute Roy Clarke the owner of North Eastern Roofing. Mick Antoniw said, 'There are lessons to learn. In future, it’s essential for the CPS to become more proactive and to take a greater interest in workplace fatalities and develop greater expertise in health and safety law.'

Roy Clarke entered no plea when he appeared before Cwmbran magistrates charged with Daniel's manslaughter. He was due before Newport Crown Court on November 22 2007.

On the eve of the trial at Cardiff Crown Court in April 2008 Roy Clark admitted the manslaughter charge.

The case was not opened but adjourned for sentencing on 28 April.

Death of Thomas Mooney

Thomas, a 64-year-old scrapyard worker, was engulfed in flames when one of a number of highly dangerous gas containers his boss got him to help cut exploded at the site in Poole, Dorset.

Charles Parry, prosecuting, told the jury at Winchester Crown Court that the cylinder contained gasses including propane, butane and acetylene, which burned at temperatures of up to 5,000C.

Reliance scrapyard boss David Matthews denies manslaughter and says Mr Mooney was just walking by when it exploded.

Mr Matthews and fellow director Michael Anderson also deny breaching health and safety legislation. Mr Matthews was also seriously injured in the incident.

They were using a machine called a sheer compactor that could apply a cutting force of up to 600 tons. As it began to slice into one cylinder, it sent chunks of metal 'hurtling through the air', the court was told.

Both men were badly burned, but it was Thomas who suffered the worst injuries when he was 'engulfed' in a fireball that destroyed his hair and clothes.

He died later in hospital but not before telling a visitor 'we were cutting up bottles and we shouldn't have been', the jury was told.

Investigators found the valve was still intact on the cylinder that exploded, meaning it could still have contained traces of acetylene gas.

The jury was told personal items that dropped out of Thomas's pockets when his clothes were destroyed by the flames pointed to him being in a hopper that fed metal into the compactor.

The firm's own accident report also stated Thomas and his boss had been working together at the time of the fatal explosion.

The judge at Winchester Crown Court ordered a retrial opening 9 June 2008 and issued a no-reporting order until the trial.

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