Obel Death Fall 'Preventable'

The tragic death of a building worker who was fatally injured in a fall during the construction of the Obel Tower in Belfast's Laganside could have been prevented.

If handrails had been in place around a service duct, it is likely the fatal accident would have been prevented.

An Inquest into the death of bricklayer Jonathan Friel, 35, was taking place this week and has been told that he sustained multiple serious injuries after dropping three storeys down a service void in December 2008.

The victim, who came from Dungiven and was a father-of -two, died two weeks later in the Royal Victoria Hospital.

Normal practice on the site was to erect guardrails around each floor and the service void as soon as the concrete floor was set.

However, while rails being put up around the edge of the floor no safety rail had been put in place around the service void.

Instead, a piece of plywood which had been placed over the top of the void was also not supported from underneath and he fell through it.

Last May a case at Laganside Crown Court in Belfast, Fernwave Limited was fined £30,000 plus £1,700 costs, after pleading guilty to three breaches of health and safety legislation brought against them by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI).

A representative of Fernwave Limited had previously pleaded guilty on behalf of the company to the case arising from the death of the worker at the Obel Tower site in Belfast.

The court had been told that, during the removal of temporary supporting structures under the 4th floor, a large section of plywood beneath an empty service void was left unsupported.

The area around the void was not signed or fenced off. When removing materials from this area, the plywood gave way and Mr Friel fell around 10 metres landing on the concrete surface of the first floor. He later died in hospital from the injuries sustained in this fall.

The HSENI said that the "work was not properly planned, managed, or supervised and this accident highlights the well recognized dangers of work at heights".

Breaches

The official probe into that death comes just days after well known building firm John Graham (Dromore) Limited, was fined a total of £80,000 plus £1,386 costs after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing at Downpatrick Crown Court to two breaches of health and safety legislation.

In similar circumstances, a case brought by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland after an accident on 26th June 2009 at a new waste water scheme in Bangor, Co Down.

During the construction of a deep water chamber, the access areas in the roof were not adequate and a worker on the site fell into the chamber, receiving severe injuries to his head and spine which has left him in a complete paraplegic condition, with a traumatic brain injury.

After the hearing Kevin Campbell, an inspector with HSENI said: "Falls from height must be prevented by the implementation of sensible and effective procedures.

"These systems need to be communicated to the workforce, implemented, maintained, and updated when necessary.

"Simple measures would have prevented workers on this project from falling," he said, referring to the Bangor accident.

(BMcC/GK)