Pair jailed for Northants trench collapse fatality

Two men have been sentenced to a total of five years following the death of a father of five at a Northamptonshire building site.

Andrew Winterton and Dean Wortley appeared at Northampton Crown Court on Friday for sentencing following a nine-week trial.

Shane Wilkinson, 33, was employed as a grounds worker at the Conquest Homes building site in Collyweston when he died on 4 September, 2014.

The court heard how Wilkinson had been standing next to a deep trench that had been incorrectly excavated by trench digger-driver Wortley.

When an unsecured trench wall collapsed, Wilkinson was completely buried underneath the rubble.

Despite the efforts of fellow workers, he was pronounced dead at the scene after his body was recovered.

Site manager and director of Conquest Homes, Winterton, of Collyweston was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter.

He was sentenced to four years in jail. He will spend two in custody and two on licence. He was also ordered to pay costs of £90,500.

Wortley, of Market Deeping, Lincolnshire, who traded as Clearview Demolition, was convicted of safety charges.

He was given a 12 month jail sentence and will spend six months in custody and six months on licence. He was ordered to pay £20,000 towards costs.

Both men were convicted following a joint investigation by Northamptonshire Police and the HSE.

During the trial, the court heard evidence which showed the sides of the trench had not been properly or adequately secured and that Wortley and Winterton had ignored basic safety measures resulting in convictions against both men for significant and serious breaches of health and safety legislation.

Speaking after the sentencing, senior investigating officer, detective superintendent Steve Woliter from Northamptonshire Police said: “As a single parent of five young children Shane Wilkinson had only been working on the Collyweston construction site for a couple of days during the early part of September 2014 because he needed money to buy school shoes for his children.

“His death was an avoidable and terrible loss of life due to the gross negligence of Winterton and the dangerous environment created by both him and Wortley.

“Shane’s death could easily have been avoided if Winterton and Wortley had shown any regard for basic safety measures on the site.”

Elsewhere a steel company has been fined £1m after an oxygen pipe exploded in front of a worker.

The Sheffield Forgemasters Engineering worker suffered life-changing injuries after the explosion on 9 August 2013.

Sheffield Crown Court heard that work was carried out by an in-house contractor to fit a valve to an oxygen pipe that carried pure oxygen. The worker was carrying out checks when he heard hissing from the valve. While investigating the noise, the pipe and valve erupted in flames.

The injured worker suffered severe third degree burns as a result of this incident. He was initially not expected to survive, having been kept in a coma for several weeks and undergoing several skin grafts.

An investigation by the HSE found the oxygen pipe had been fitted with contaminated second-hand flanges and butterfly valve, containing materials unsuitable for use with oxygen. It was foreseeable that work would at some point be undertaken on the oxygen pipelines that ran across the entire site, yet no action had been taken to take control of this line or to implement training or levels of responsibility for management of such work.

Sheffield Forgemasters Engineering of Brightside Lane, Sheffield pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £1,000,000 with £58,000.45 costs. 

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Carol Downes said: “This incident could have been avoided if simple checks had been carried out.

“Duty holders should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the require standard.”