MAJOR CONTRACTOR COMMITTED TO CROWN COURT

Magistrates refuse to sentence in case of falling scaffold tube tragedy

It has been reported by This is Bristol that Contractors Miller Construction and Yesterday Hoistway Limited have been committed to Bristol Crown Court for sentencing after pleading guilty to health and safety offences.

The prosecutions follow an incident during construction of the Bristol Radisson Blu hotel in July 2008. A scaffold tube used as a makeshift ‘plumb line’ fell 15 storeys down a lift shaft and struck a workman below.

Richard Chodkiewicz, aged 53, now needs 24-hour care for the rest of his life after the incident left him with severe brain injury. Magistrates heard that the 3.7kg tube fell when the line holding it failed.

Magistrates said the companies failed in their duties “to a significant degree” and committed the defendants to Bristol Crown Court for sentencing. The Magistrates believed their own powers (maximum fine of £20,000) were insufficient.

This article was posted on 8th March 2011 in ALL LATEST NEWS, PROSECUTIONS, falls other, lifting operations.
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