Nuclear plant operator Sellafield and demolition contractors PC Richardson & Co have been fined a total of £250,000 over the death of a worker who fell 95 metres from an unprotected ledge. Neil Cannon, an employee of PC Richardson was killed in January 2003, during work to decommission the Windscale Pile B6 chimney at the Sellafield plant in Cumbria, which has not been used since it caught fire in 1957.
Mr Cannon had been helping to remove steelwork inside the chimney when he fell. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation revealed that although a platform had been built inside the chimney, workers had been using an unguarded ledge around 95 metres above ground level. Mr Cannon had been trying to manoeuvre a girder off the ledge when it tipped upwards and a sharp bracket cut through his safety lanyard. The weight of the girder pulled him over the edge and he fell through a gap between the ledge and the working platform.
HSE principal inspector Mark Cottriall said a safe working method had been prepared for removing the steelwork. "If this had been followed, Mr Cannon would not have had to leave the safety of the working platform. As often happens on construction projects, however, the proposed method was changed as the work progressed. Ongoing monitoring of the work should have identified the changes and the increased risk. If this had been done it is almost certain that a way could have been found to do the work without leaving the safety of the platform."
Sellafield, which was the client and principal contractor for the project, admitted failing to take reasonable steps to ensure Mr Cannon's safety and subcontractor PC Richardson and Co admitted failing to ensure the safety of its employers. Both breached the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
