13th April 2016

Man jailed for six years following fatal fall

One man has been jailed for six years and another for eight months after two incidents on the same day left one man dead and another with life-changing injuries, after falls from a roof they were repairing.

Allan Thomson was jailed for six years and fined £400,000 after he and his company Building and Dismantling Contractors Ltd were found guilty of safety breaches. Michael Smith and his company C. Smith and Sons (Rochdale) Ltd, were also found guilty. Mr Smith was jailed for eight months and  fined £90,000.

It was heard in court how, on 21 January 2014, despite a near miss at height the previous day, four men began dismantling the roof of a building, which was made up of steel corrugated sheets with interspersed plastic skylights, which had deteriorated over time and had subsequently been covered with corrugated steel sheets in a bid to repair the damage.

At just after 9am, one of the group – a 47-year-old man – fell through a skylight to the concrete floor below, fracturing his spine, pelvis, right leg, heel and wrist.

Ambulance and police attended, but the incident was deemed to be an accident and once advice was passed regarding the company’s obligations to inform the Health and Safety Executive, officers left the scene.

Despite their colleague suffering horrific injuries, the men were ordered to return to the roof just hours later and at 4pm Scott Harrower fell through a skylight to the concrete below. He suffered catastrophic head injuries and died as a result.

Mr Harrower had himself been involved in the near miss the previous day after stepping on a skylight. On that occasion he managed to prevent himself from falling, but despite the near miss the men had returned to carry out their work the next day.

The court heard how C. Smith and Sons had won a contract to demolish the Harvey’s and Carpetright buildings in Heaton Norris, Stockport in 2014.

It was originally planned that plant machinery would be used to remotely bring down the structure, a method that would have entailed minimum risk to those workmen tasked with the demolition.

However, between winning the contract and the work actually being carried out, the decision was taken by Mr Smith that the building should instead be dismantled piece by piece, meaning workmen would be required to work at height to remove the roof sheets prior to the structure being unbolted.

Smith and Sons then subcontracted the job of dismantling the roof to Allan Thompson’s company, Building and Dismantling Contractors Ltd, which was based in Scotland.

This led to the work being carried out by the men at height, leading to the death of one man “in tragically preventable circumstances”.

The sentences were as follows:

• Allan Thomson, of Woodburn Crescent, Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, was found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter and both he and his company Building and Dismantling Contractors Ltd were found guilty of offences under Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and for breaching regulations 4 and 7 of the Work at Height Regulations at Manchester Crown Court, Crown Square, on 3 February 2016. Allan Thompson was jailed was six years, fined £400,000 and was ordered to pay £55,000 court costs.
• Michael Smith of Lightowlers Lane, Rochdale and his company C. Smith and Sons (Rochdale) Ltd, were found guilty of offences under Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and for breaching both the CDM Regulations and Work at Height Regulations. He was jailed for eight months, fined £90,000 and ordered to pay £45,000 court costs.

Detective Chief Inspector Richard Eales said:  “It is clear from the evidence that both Smith and Thomson saw an opportunity to make a quick profit without any thought for the workers they sent on to the roof, and as a direct result of that greed Scott died and another man suffered life-changing injuries.