This post was originally published on this site
https://www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/assets/news_articles/2021/12/1639470497_hse-hat.jpg
Robert Morris, 48, was working on the resurfacing of Pemberton Road in Haringey for Marlborough Highways on 30th May 2022. A colleague was at the wheel of the vehicle and Morris was struck while it was reversing.
A joint investigation was launched by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and the Metropolitan Police. The police submitted evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) leading to a separate prosecution, which resulted in the driver being given a suspended prison sentence.
The HSE investigation identified a number of failings: there was no segregation between people and moving vehicles on site; a banksman was not used when the road sweeper was reversing; and the traffic management systems in place at the site were inadequate and unsafe, placing employees and members of the public at risk.
Marlborough Highways Limited of Woolf House Eagle Way, Chelmsford Garden, Chelmsford pleaded guilty to Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 at the first opportunity. It was fined £1m, with full costs awarded in the sum of £6,028, at City of London Magistrates’ Court on 3rd October 2025.
In the separate CPS case, Jamie Smith, who was also an employee of the company, was prosecuted for an offence of causing death by careless driving contrary to section 2B of the Road Traffic Act 1988. He pleaded guilty and in February 2024, at Wood Green Crown Court, he was sentenced to a six-month custodial sentence, suspended for two years, and disqualified from driving for one year.
HSE principal inspector James Goldfinch said: “Our thoughts are with Robert’s family, described by his widow as ‘the centre of our world’. She says his children are ‘sad and angry and cheated of so much of their future’.
“Robert was entitled to return home safely from work to his family but the lack of segregation of vehicles and pedestrians by Marlborough Highways Limited meant he did not.
“This was a case where appropriate controls had been identified but were not being implemented on site.”
Got a story? Email [email protected]