A Merseyside scaffolding firm has admitted responsibility for the death of a Liverpool dad who fell while working on the roof of the companies yard.
Kings Scaffolding of Netherley, Liverpool pleaded guilty to the corporate manslaughter of Adrian Smith on September 13, 2012.
The 43-year-old died after an incident at the firm’s headquarters at Wheathill Industrial Estate in Holt Lane.
Police said he was found lying on the ground with serious head, neck and upper body injuries at around 9.45am.
The dad-of-three was taken to Whiston hospital in a critical condition but died overnight.
A director from J&P Scaffolding, trading as Kings Scaffolding, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday 28th April 2015.
The business admitted unlawfully killing Mr Smith “in gross breach of its duty to take reasonable care for his safety at work”.
The charge said that Kings “exposed Mr Smith to a risk of death from carrying out repairs to the roof of the company premises and thereby caused his death”.
It said the way the company was managed and organised led to Mr Smith’s death, in that it:
– Instructed or permitted employees to work at height on an unsafe roof without proper safety measures being in place
– Failed to put in place appropriate safety measures for working at height
– Failed to perform a risk assessment for the carrying out of the repairs
– Failed to instruct specialist contractors to carry out the repairs to the roof
Judge Clement Goldstone, QC, said Kings would be sentenced by Mr Justice Turner on June 18 2015.
David King, a manager at the firm, told local media everyone at the company was “devastated” by Mr Smith’s death.
He said: “We accept this occurred and we wanted to do what was right and plead guilty to it. We didn’t want his family having to go through a trial.
“This is a sad set of circumstances and we are all devastated that it happened as a family. Adrian was a good friend of ours.
“We work with blue chip companies up and down the country. We are number one approved by Liverpool City Council.
“Our safety record is excellent but something has occurred on our premises when he has gone to look at a skylight and fell through it. It is tragic.”
The firm was previously fined £75,000 and told to pay £58,920 in costs over an accident in 2002, when three labourers were seriously injured when its scaffolding collapsed.
Kings admitted health and safety breaches in 2005 relating to the 2002 incident, which involved work at a shop in Lower House Lane, West Derby.
Mr King said the business was operating under different management at that time.
Scaffolding was secured to brickwork on the building that was to be removed, and only four ties, rather than the recommended seven, were used.
John Ollerhead, Leonard Davies and John McCabe, who were not Kings employees, were using the scaffold to repair the gable wall of the shop when it collapsed on October 26, 2002.
Mr Ollerhead suffered permanent brain damage, Mr Davies was left unable to walk without assistance and Mr McCabe suffered hand injuries and a broken cheek bone.
