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£600,000 penalty for BT, after engineer breaks back and ankles in fall from height (20 June 2016)

Date: 20/06/2016
Duncan Lewis, Personal Injury Solicitors, £600,000 penalty for BT, after engineer breaks back and ankles in fall from height

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has successfully prosecuted British Telecom plc (BT), after an engineer fell seven metres from a loft in London, breaking his back and his ankles.

At the time of the incident in May 2011, BT engineer David Spurgeon was fixing a telephone fault in the roof void of a residential block of flats in Tower Hamlets, east London.

Mr Spurgeon was working alone, when he lost his balance and fell through the ceiling, landing on a concrete stairwell.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found a number of management failures by BT, including inadequate planning of work taking place near fragile surfaces – and checking that the work was carried out safely.

At the Central Criminal Court in London (Old Bailey) British Telecom plc of Newgate Street in London was found guilty of breaching Section 2(1) of the Safety and Health at Work etc Act 1974.

BT was fined £500,000 and ordered to pay costs of £98,913.51.

In his sentencing remarks, the judge criticised BT for attempting to blame its own engineers for the incident. He described the company’s approach as being “not necessary, misplaced – and unfortunate”.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Kevin Smith said:

“David Spurgeon is lucky to be alive.

“There were a number of failures of health and safety management by BT, which related to planning the work, supervision – and checking it was being carried out safely.

“Work at height needs to be properly planned and this incident could have been prevented.”

Duncan Lewis Personal Injury Solicitors – No win no fee Falls from Height Claims

Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors can advise those injured in falls from height as a result of negligence on how to make a no win no fee claim for compensation, including claims relating to:

• Accidents at work
• Children’s accidents
• Construction accidents
• Holiday accidents
• Industrial accidents
• Military accidents
• Public liability accidents
• Sports injuries.

Falls from height claims usually have to be made within three years of injury – children can make personal injury claims up to the age of 21.

For expert legal advice on no win no fee Falls from Height Claims, call Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors on 0333 772 0409.


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