A stonemasonry company whose employee was crushed to death by a two-tonne limestone block has been ordered to pay more than £237,000 in fines and costs.
David Evans, 23, was erecting a wall at the Well Barn Estate in Moulsford, Oxfordshire in 2010 when the block fell off a concrete lintel and crushed him.
Cavendish Masonry Ltd had been found guilty of corporate manslaughter and admitted a health and safety offence.
The Health and Safety Executive said the death was ‘completely avoidable’.
Natural Stone Specialist writes:
Bristol and Bath-based Cavendish Masonry has been ordered by a court to pay £237,000 after being convicted of corporate manslaughter.
Imposing the fine on 18 November, Judge Patrick Eccles QC said the penalty of a £150,000 fine with £87,117.69 costs did not match the gravity of the offence but that it would be better to impose a smaller penalty that the company had some hope of paying. The company was given five years to pay it.
The Judge pointed out that the starting point for most corporate manslaughter convictions is £500,000, but defence barrister Patrick Gibbs QC had argued that if the fine was too large the company would go into liquidation and none of the money would be paid.
Judge Eccles said responsibility for the failings that led to the death of a mason’s mate in February 2010 had to rest with the small company’s sole director, Richard Ferris.
He said: ‘Mr Ferris simply failed to educate himself in the relevant regulations and codes of practice designed to protect workmen from accidents such as that which caused Mr Evans’ death.’’ He added that the ‘obvious risks’’ involved in moving the block were not properly considered, which meant ‘the foreseeability of death or serious injury was high’’.
During the trial, at Oxford Crown Court, prosecutor Oliver Glasgow said there had been ‘almost non-existent planning’ before a 2tonne block of limestone that fell on to David Evans and killed him was lifted into place on a concrete lintel.
Cavendish Masonry was convicted by a jury in May this year of corporate manslaughter resulting from a gross breach of its duty of care towards 23-year-old David Evans. It had been waiting since then to be fined. It had pleaded guilty to the offence under section 33 1a of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.
The tragedy that led to the death of David Evans happened when Cavendish Masonry was working on a building site in Moulsford, near Wallingford. The stone that fell on to the mason’s mate was to form part of a wall at the Well Barn Estate, which was undergoing a £2m renovation.
Following the conviction in May, Health & Safety Executive (HSE) Inspector Peter Snelgrove said: ‘David Evan’s tragic death was completely avoidable, had Cavendish Masonry properly planned and managed the installation of the heavy limestone. The lift itself was relatively straightforward and there is no blame on the part of the crane operator who put the stone in place. The stone toppled because its shape was such that it was potentially unstable when free standing, yet nothing was used to fix it in place. It needed to be sufficiently restrained before the lifting slings attaching it to the crane were removed.’
‘The drawings for the work were wholly insufficient and the overall execution of the project fell significantly below the standard required and expected of a competent masonry company.’
Detective Constable David Edwards from Thames Valley Police, which investigated the incident in conjunction with the HSE, said in May: ‘Although nothing will ever bring David back or change what happened, this conviction will provide the family with some sense of justice, and help to ensure nothing like this happens again.’
Speaking after the conviction, the family of Mr Evans said there had been a ‘void in their lives’ since his death. ‘We miss his smile, his infectious laugh and his profoundly honest nature. We hope that these lessons are learned and communicated throughout the stonemason and construction industry. We do not want another family to go through the devastation and uncertainty that we have experienced over the last four years and the pain of loss which will always be with us.’
