Personal Injury Solicitors

The boss of a Kent scaffolding company has been jailed for 15 months, after a construction worker plunged 15 metres and died at a building site in west London.

Mark Anthony Hayes, 53, from Eltham in southeast London – trading as WSS Scaffolding – was found guilty of offences relating to the death of scaffolder Grant Dunmall at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday (03/09/14).

Hayes was also convicted of the murder of his brother at the Old Bailey in July this year and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

His current conviction is unrelated to the murder of his brother, however, but the sentence will run concurrently with his life sentence.

Scaffolder Grant Dunmall, 25, from Hither Green was working on a scaffold located at a residential site in Linden Gardens, Notting Hill, west London in July 2012 when he fell and sustained fatal injuries.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that edge protection was missing from the scaffold – and that Mr Dunmall had not been provided with any other safety measures, such as a fall arrest harness, to prevent or mitigate a fall.

In January and March 2013, Hayes was also fined by Westminster Magistrates’ Court for failing to provide essential documentation to support the HSE investigation following Mr Dunmall’s death at the site.

When the documents were eventually supplied, the missing paperwork enabled the HSE to complete investigation – and conclude that Hayes could and should have done more to prevent the fall.

In 2103, Hayes had been given combined fines of £12,000 with £5,601 costs after he admitted breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969. The breaches involved Hayes’ failure to provide legally-required documents relating to his management of work at height after he had earlier ignored a ‘Notice to produce’ served by the HSE.

Last week, HSE inspectors told Southwark Crown Court that Hayes was responsible for the tower scaffold outside the residential property from which Mr Dunmall fell to his death.

After the three-day trial, Hayes was found guilty of one breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 for failing to properly plan, supervise and carry out the work at height in a safe manner at the Notting Hill site.

After Hayes was jailed for 15 months, HSE Inspector Jack Wilby said:

“The family and friends of Grant Dunmall have suffered enough heartache through the loss of their loved one, without the additional stress of the convoluted legal process we have had to go through to secure justice.

“Our investigation into his tragic death was delayed for several months because of Mark Hayes’ total lack of co-operation in supporting our work.

“That had a knock-on impact in delaying the Coroner’s inquest – and we had no option but to prosecute before he eventually provided the documentation we needed.

“His wilful obstruction only served to accentuate the fact that his systems and procedures for safely managing work at height were sorely lacking – and fell short of the standards expected from a competent scaffolder.”

Duncan Lewis Personal Injury Solicitors – Construction Accident Claims & Fatal Injury Claims

Duncan Lewis Personal Injury Solicitors can advise construction workers injured in work accidents as a result of employer negligence on how to make no win no fee personal injury claims for compensation – including claims relating to scaffolders injured at work, roofers injured at work, builders injured at work and electricians injured at work.

Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors can also advise the families of construction workers who have lost their lives as a result of negligence on a building site on how to make no win no fee Fatal Injury Claims.

Personal injury claimants usually have three years from the date of injury in which to make a no win no fee claim for compensation.

For expert legal advice on no win no fee Construction Accident Claims or Fatal Injury Claims, call Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors in confidence on 020 7923 4020.