Two companies and two people have been sentenced after an 18 year old construction worker was fatally injured while working on a house-build construction site in Boston, Lincolnshire.
P & R Plant Hire (Lincolnshire) Limited, D. Brown (Building Contractors) Limited, Brent Woods and Darrell Tripp were all fined following the death of Josh Disdel.
In July 2018 Mr Disdel and another worker, both employed by P & R Plant Hire (Lincolnshire) Limited, had been tasked with clearing debris from manholes at a house-build construction site at White Bridges, Boston. While this was taking place, Mr Disdel’s colleague was asked to move a works van. However he was not aware that Mr Disdel was lying on the road with his head and torso in a manhole, directly in front of the van.
As the vehicle moved forwards one of the wheels entered the manhole contacting Mr Disdel. Mr Disdel was taken to hospital but later died as a result of serious crush injuries.
An Investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found that neither the Principal Contractor, D.Brown (Building Contractors), nor the groundworks sub-contractor, P & P Plant Hire (Lincolnshire) Limited, had ensured that the work was planned in such a way to ensure that workers were not exposed to risks to their health and safety.
Brent Woods, a manager within P & R Plant Hire (Lincolnshire) Limited for approximately 10 years, sent employees to carry out the task without a risk assessment or method statement in place despite having previously produced such information in the past. Workers had also not been trained to work in a road or provided with any equipment to ensure the work was carried safely.
On 6th September 2022 at Lincoln Crown Court, Darrell Tripp, a site manager for D. Brown (Building Contractors) Limited, did not carry out a site induction of Josh Disdel and failed to carry out suitable checks to ensure workers had the relevant training. Mr Tripp also failed to ensure there was a safe system of work in place.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Mark Welsh said: “This was a completely avoidable incident, caused by a multitude of failures by both companies and both of the individuals who appeared in court.
“All of the defendants failed to adequately plan the work to identify the risks, failed to ensure that the individuals carrying out the work were trained and competent to do so, and failed to ensure a safe system of work was in place and followed.
“The result was the tragic loss of life of a young man who was looking forward to a bright future.”
Read the full article from the Health and Safety Executive here
