Watson Steel and FLB Construction fined £21k

Fabricator Watson Steel and FLB Construction have been fined a total of £21,000 for breaches in health and safety legislation that led to the death of a steelwork erector at Canary Wharf in London. Stephen Hayhurst, 32 and an employee of FLB, fell 40m to his death at the Citibank office block site in March 1998.

Last week at Thames Magistrates Court in east London, Amec subsidiary Watson was fined £15,000 and FLB of Yarm, Cleveland was fined £6,000 after pleading guilty.

James Ageros, counsel for the Health and Safety Executive, said: "So far as we are concerned, the main inefficiency was Watson's failure to ensure FLB employees were working in a safe area."

Hayhurst, from Nelson, Lancashire, was inserting steelwork under the stairs on the tenth floor of the Citibank tower's south core, but was not wearing a safety harness.

The court heard that Hayhurst was trying to align bolt holes on the stairs when the piece of plywood on which he was standing gave way and he fell eight floors and died instantly from severe head injuries. The unsecured plywood had been placed to cover a services shaft. There were no barriers or handrails guarding the shaft.

Magistrate Inigo Bing said: "The essential point in this case is that Watson Steel hadn't fitted barriers in all floors above level five. The prosecution says that lack of barriers is an obviously transparent risk that they (Watson) should have known about."

The court also heard that the site had already been warned about safety breaches by the HSE before the tragedy happened. The magistrate referred to a safety meeting before the fatality where the need for barriers was raised. Bing said: "I consider that the barriers should have been fitted and that there was a failure to heed the need for such barriers."

Simon Wheatley, acting for Watson, said the firm had relied on a foreman to give information about when steel erectors were due to work in a specific area so that it could arrange for scaffolders to go in and erect barriers in advance of any operations taking place.

Wheatley said: "It goes without saying that Watson did not intend to jeopardise the safety of the deceased and had they known that he was working at level 10, they could and would have taken steps to ensure safety."

However, Ageros, counsel for HSE, claimed that a fax showed that Watson was aware of steel erection going on at least on level eight.

Prime contractor Canary Wharf Contractors also pleaded guilty to allowing two surveyors to enter an unsafe workplace, which occurred two days before the fatal incident. Canary Wharf Contractors was fined £1,500 for the offence but was not implicated in the fatality.

Costs of £20,400 were awarded against Canary Wharf Contractors with Watson and FLB each paying £2,011.