Company and employee prosecuted in UK case   

Aug 2019  

Clancy Docwra and one of its employees have been sentenced for health and safety breaches after another worker was struck by an excavator and killed.   Penalty £1,000,000 and a six month custodial sentence

Southwark Crown Court heard how, on 2 March 2014, during night work at a site in Stratford, Kevin Campbell, was struck by an excavator mounted vibrator (EMV) attached to a 35-tonne excavator that he was working in close proximity to.

Campbell had been disconnecting lifting accessories from a metal pile that had just been extracted from the ground when he was fatally crushed against a concrete wall a short distance away.

Another site operative who was directly next to him also faced a risk of being struck.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) (the UK equivalent of WorkSafe)investigation found principal contractor Clancy Docwra Limited failed to ensure the safety so far as is reasonably practicable of its employees and of others who were not their employees working on the site. 

The investigation also found that Daniel Walsh, who was the site supervisor for the site and the person operating the excavator at the time, failed to take reasonable care for other persons on site at the time.

Clancy Docwra Limited of Middlesex pleaded not guilty to safety breaches and was fined £1,000,000 and ordered to pay costs of £108,502.30.

Daniel Walsh of Orpington, Kent also pleaded not guilty and was given a six month custodial sentence, suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay costs of £15,000.