Death of worker who fell 15ft from scaffolding leads to manslaughter charge

The death of a 78-year-old following a fall from scaffolding has led to a manslaughter charge for the Director of a glazing company, and the worker’s son.

The Director’s father had been working on the refurbishment of a store at the Centaurus Retail Park in Cribbs Causeway, Bristol, in March of last year, fitting new window panes to the shop front, when he fell. He was treated at the scene by paramedics before being taken to hospital with serious head injuries, but he sadly passed away the next day.

Following the incident, the police launched an investigation with support from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the cause of the accident. The Director of the company, and son of the deceased, was charged with manslaughter alongside failure to ensure employee safety, as he appeared before Bristol magistrates.

No pleas were given by the defence, with the case being sent to Bristol Crown Court, with a plea and case management hearing scheduled for the 6^th August 2019. The Director of the glazing company was given unconditional bail.

The investigation into this tragedy has clearly found failings in the health and safety procedures in place on site. Whilst we have seen a significant improvement in safety standards, and subsequent accident rates, over our time in business, incidents such as this emphasise the ongoing work and training that is vital to ensuring that workers are safe at all time when working at height.

Here at SIMIAN, our expert team offer clients our qualified expertise on how safety standards can be improved for their company, if you are looking for support in this area please contact us on 0345 602 2418 or email hello@simian-risk.com.