Huge fine after worker paralysed
11/05/2010
Two companies and a managing director have been hit with a total bill of more than £215,000 after a worker was paralysed from the chest down in an accident.
Wayne Simpson, now 26, fell more than 9m on to a concrete floor at a building site in Glossop in February 2007, leaving him confined to a wheelchair and unable to return to work.
Lincoln Crown Court fined SDI Group UK £80,000 and ordered the company to pay costs of £20,000 after it pleaded guilty to violating health and safety regulations.
Steel Construction, which admitted the same offence, was hit with a £50,000 penalty and a £22,000 legal bill.
Richard Berwick, the managing director of RM Berwick Steel Erection Services, of Northamptonshire, meanwhile, was fined £40,000, told to pay £5,000 in costs and banned from serving as a company director for four years.
Speaking after the hearing, Health and Safety Executive inspector Kevin Wilson said: "It is unacceptable that a young man should suffer such life-changing injuries while just trying to do his job. Mr Simpson has been left with a long-term debilitating condition because the two companies and Richard Berwick failed to ensure his health and safety."
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