Carillion fined £70,000 for worker's fatal fall

Carillion JM, formerly known as Mowlem, has been fined £70,000 after one of its employees fell 17m to his death in 2003.

The company was also made to pay £24,000 costs at Maidstone Crown Court at the end of last month after it pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 in May last year.

Worker Alexander McCully from Motherwell, Scotland, was working on the Isle of Grain in Kent at an Air BP site, building large steel poil storage tankers.

On the day of his death he was altering work platforms to allow a roof structure to be craned into place.

McCully moved from a platform outside of the tank close to the top to an incomplete platform inside the tank. As he did so three of the platform boards on the inside of the tank snapped and he fell 17m to the floor. He died from his injuries.

HSE inspector John Underwood said: "Mr McCully was wearing a safety harness in line with company policy but there was no suitable anchor point for him to attach his lanyard to."

The HSE said that there needed to be around 50 anchor points around the rim of the tank for harnesses to be used effectively, but the company's procedures did not require these to be fitted prior to the crane lift starting.