TEESSIDE SCAFFOLDER
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Ken Brogden Ltd has scaffolding-death fine cut due to recession
November 01, 2011
A scaffolding repair company which admitted breaching health and safety laws after the death of a veteran steeplejack has had its fine cut on appeal – because of the recession.
Ken Brogden Ltd, based in Heywood, was one of two companies which faced fines after 40-year-old John Alty, a steeplejack with 25 years’ experience, fell to his death while working on a chimney at Swan Lane Mill, Bolton, in 2007.
Despite not directly causing the accident, Ken Brogden Ltd was handed a £10,000 fine at Minshull Street Crown Court in January after a prosecution was brought by the Health and Safety Executive.
Now two senior judges at London’s Court of Appeal have reduced that fine, and gave the company more time to pay it off, after hearing times are tough in the construction industry.
Mr Justice Silber, sitting with Mr Justice Kenneth Parker, told the court Mr Alty and colleagues were working on a defunct Grade Two listed chimney at the site in June 2007 when the scaffolding fell away beneath them.
The judge said another worker managed to hang on to a ladder attached to the structure, but dad-of-one Mr Alty fell 160 feet and died from his injuries.
Mr Alty’s employers, Macclesfield-based Bailey International Steeplejacks Ltd, were fined £75,000 after the anchor fixings of some scaffolding were found to be inadequate, the court heard.
Ken Brogden Ltd, who repaired the scaffolding before the accident, faced a fine of £10,000, and were ordered to pay £16,000 costs, after admitting that more thorough repair work could have been carried out if its staff had asked what the equipment would be used for, the judge said.
Prosecutors accepted the insufficient repair work was unlikely to have caused the accident, and the company says it has since put procedures in place to prevent similar errors.
The company’s lawyers told judges it had not yet started paying off the fine and could not meet the 18-month deadline set by the Manchester judge because business is down due to the recession.
After hearing those arguments, Mr Justice Silber agreed to cut the fine to £6,600 and gave Ken Brogden Ltd three years to pay it off.
November 01, 2011
A scaffolding repair company which admitted breaching health and safety laws after the death of a veteran steeplejack has had its fine cut on appeal – because of the recession.
Ken Brogden Ltd, based in Heywood, was one of two companies which faced fines after 40-year-old John Alty, a steeplejack with 25 years’ experience, fell to his death while working on a chimney at Swan Lane Mill, Bolton, in 2007.
Despite not directly causing the accident, Ken Brogden Ltd was handed a £10,000 fine at Minshull Street Crown Court in January after a prosecution was brought by the Health and Safety Executive.
Now two senior judges at London’s Court of Appeal have reduced that fine, and gave the company more time to pay it off, after hearing times are tough in the construction industry.
Mr Justice Silber, sitting with Mr Justice Kenneth Parker, told the court Mr Alty and colleagues were working on a defunct Grade Two listed chimney at the site in June 2007 when the scaffolding fell away beneath them.
The judge said another worker managed to hang on to a ladder attached to the structure, but dad-of-one Mr Alty fell 160 feet and died from his injuries.
Mr Alty’s employers, Macclesfield-based Bailey International Steeplejacks Ltd, were fined £75,000 after the anchor fixings of some scaffolding were found to be inadequate, the court heard.
Ken Brogden Ltd, who repaired the scaffolding before the accident, faced a fine of £10,000, and were ordered to pay £16,000 costs, after admitting that more thorough repair work could have been carried out if its staff had asked what the equipment would be used for, the judge said.
Prosecutors accepted the insufficient repair work was unlikely to have caused the accident, and the company says it has since put procedures in place to prevent similar errors.
The company’s lawyers told judges it had not yet started paying off the fine and could not meet the 18-month deadline set by the Manchester judge because business is down due to the recession.
After hearing those arguments, Mr Justice Silber agreed to cut the fine to £6,600 and gave Ken Brogden Ltd three years to pay it off.
