Father and uncle of man, 20, avoid prison after he dies working for family business in risky conditions
RIPON, UNITED KINGDOM: The uncle and father of a 20-year-old man, who died while operating the family agricultural engineering company, have escaped jail time. On January 26, 2019, while working on a roof at Manor Farm in East Tanfield, Henry Willis died after falling from a telehandler basket.
Henry was reportedly employed at DH Willis & Sons Ltd, a business owned by his father Timothy Willis, 58, and uncle Mark Willis, 56, in Gilling West. He was passing roof sheets to one of the two workers he was working with while standing on the telehandler basket when a gust of wind snagged a sheet and knocked him off.
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He fell around 20 feet, landing hard on his head. One of his coworkers performed CPR on him before he was airlifted to the hospital, where he died two days later. According to a joint inquiry by North Yorkshire Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the basket did not follow health and safety regulations, and the construction project had not been utilizing the right tools to complete the job, as reported by Richmondshire Today.
The use of a metal basket on a telehandler that was remarkably identical to the one from which Henry fell was one of the risky working practices for which the HSE had previously issued DH Willis & Sons an improvement notice and a prohibition notice. A West Witton facility was inspected by an inspector in 2014, who discovered the business utilizing a telehandler with a makeshift cage. Another Health and Safety Executive investigator discovered Timothy and Henry working without any fall protection on a roof in Brompton-on-Swale in 2016.
Henry's fall was preceded by complaints
Two metal baskets that had been utilized as attachments to teleporter vehicles were to be destroyed by the corporation. Henry's fall was preceded by complaints about DH Willis & Sons' risky work methods from contractors working on the same property as the company as well as from former employees.
The Gilling West brothers admitted to manslaughter and failing to uphold an employee's general health, safety, and welfare duty. Before the University of Derby creative writing student assisted the family business, Justice Butler said that no risk assessment had been done at the location.
'The cage did not meet safety standards'
Justice Butler said, "There had developed in the company a culture of inadequate regard of the safety of employees working at height." He further added, "This was evidenced in 2014 when a HSE inspector attended a site where they were working. He found a telehandler with a home-made cage attached – the cage did not meet safety standards."
He stated that the company received a prohibition notice in 2016 after an HSE inspector discovered them working in an unsafe manner, as reported by The Nothern Eco. The company, which was based in Gilling West, near Richmond, was found guilty of corporate manslaughter and admitted to individual health and safety violations. The company was fined £335,000, plus £4,000 in court costs, as per reports.