Cambridge contractor fined after worker is buried by rubble

Date:

4 March 2010

Release No:

HSE-E-58

A Cambridgeshire groundwork contractor has today been fined £3,500 after a worker was buried alive in an excavation collapse.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Anthony John Melvyn Hill, 58, of Plantation Road, Sawston, for breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and for breaching Regulation 31(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

Mr Hill was also ordered to pay costs of £2,000 at Cambridge Magistrates Court today.

On 22 October 2007, one of Mr Hill's employees was undertaking groundwork on construction project at Penny Farm near Brinkley in East Cambridgeshire.

The Court heard that, while the employee was in a trench, the sides collapsed, burying him completely. The emergency services were called, and he was rescued alive from the collapse by other workers and the Suffolk Fire and Rescue team.

HSE Principal Inspector, Norman Macritchie said:

"This worker suffered a broken leg and bruising, and was incredibly fortunate to survive the horror of being buried alive.

"These types of easily preventable incidents are all too common and often prove fatal, so it is absolutely essential that employers and contractors ensure they have measures in place to protect their staff.

"Groundworks can be extremely dangerous and companies must make sure excavations are properly supported to avoid serious injury, or even death."

Notes to editors

1. HSE is Britain's national regulator for workplace safety and health. It aims to reduce injuries and illness in the workplace.
2. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states that: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of all his employees."
3. Regulations 31(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 states: "All practicable steps shall be taken, where necessary to prevent danger to any person, including, where necessary, the provision of supports or battering, to ensure that (a) any excavation or part of an excavation does not collapse; (b) no material from a side or roof of, or adjacent to, any excavation is dislodged or falls; and (c) no person is buried or trapped in an excavation by material which is dislodged or falls."
4. For more information on managing risks in the workplace www.hse.gov.uk/risk

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI