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A Guernsey building firm has been fined £75,000 for health and safety breaches which led to the tragic death of an English worker who was crushed while installing fridges in 2018.
Hurel Ltd - the building firm which previously traded as RG Falla Ltd – had been convicted on a single count as an employer for failing to take reasonably practicable steps to ensure the health and safety of people other than their employees on the worksite.
Jurats unanimously found that the firm had breached section 25(1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work (General) (Guernsey) Ordinance 1987, as amended at a three-day Royal Court trial in September.
The judiciary was notified in March this year of the companies’ name change, and it entered voluntary liquidation a month later. No-one from the company appeared at sentencing or the trial, and it went without legal representation.
Crown Advocate Fiona Russell said all the assets and employees were transferred to another entity on liquidation, with Hurel Ltd cashless.
She repeated the facts of the case to the court, which resulted in the death of Barry Challen (50) days after a heavy refrigeration unit toppled onto him while he and colleagues wheeled it inside what was to become the Co-operative Locale store at the Bridge on 20 May 2018.
He was an employee of UK-based firm Trevor Wainwright Installations. Mr Wainwright faced identical charges but was acquitted at trial as Hurel Ltd were found to have overall responsibility for the site as the main contractor.
Wooden ramps and boards which had been placed on the pavement and floor of the shop were uneven and varied in height. A set of wheels on the corner of the fridge unit clipped an uneven lip and crushed Mr Challen near the entrance.
Pictured: The company was known as RG Falla at the time.
Bespoke risk assessments for the site or nature of the work weren’t drawn up by Hurel Ltd. The risk assessments which were provided were “generic, lacking in detail, and totally inadequate”, Advocate Russell said.
The court should be mindful of the deterrent effect of fines in cases where health and safety is breached, she added.
The firm had one previous health and safety breach relating to asbestos in 2008.
Judge Catherine Fooks said the company had abdicated its responsibilities by failing to produce a formal dynamic risk assessment or a method statement for the site and the specific works.
There was “obvious risk” in the moving of heavy objects, and it was reasonably practicable for a firm of that size with significant resources and experience to have those in place.
“Safety cannot be compromised,” she said. The “economic penalty must be significant” as there was a “tragic death” involved, it was added.
While there were no submissions from Hurel Ltd, full cooperation with the Health & Safety Executive, only one previous convictions, and the fact the experienced Mr Challen shouldn’t have proceeded given site conditions were found to be mitigating factors.
But it was a “matter of public interest” to treat the firm as though it was prior to it entering voluntary liquidation, Judge Fooks said as a fine of £75,000 was imposed.
The maximum sentence that could’ve been imposed was an unlimited fine.
The court expressed its deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Mr Challen.
Building firm guilty of safety breaches which led to death
Trial into death from fridge fall begins
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