Another preventable death

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James Harris was only 23 when he fell to his death two years ago, on 14^th September 2000, replacing a giant advertising banner for the film "Moulin Rouge", attaching it to a steel frame on a building at the top of Oxford Street.

At the inquest into his death at Westminster Coroners Court, on 13^th June, he was described as competent, reliable and conscientious and his employer said that he did not take risks. He had worked in scaffolding for over three years. A lot of his family attended, clearly distressed and angry with his employer.

Harris worked for Trident Scaffolding, a small firm employing no more than 4 people. He was paid by the day as self employed. He got laid off from time to time, no doubt a factor in why he had a second job.

The night before his death he worked until 3am as a doorman at a club out Basildon way. He was then picked up around 5.30am, dog tired, by his mate on the job, a Mr Gordon Shaw who had done scaffolding for 34 years.

Shaw told the Inquest that to do the job they both went through a window onto a ledge little more than 6 inches in width to walk along holding onto the steelwork. They had to go different ways. He heard a thud, a gasp and then saw Harris bleeding on the ground. He said other workers had refused to do the this job because it was so awkward; neither of them wore harnesses but he had thought long and hard and was not convinced that there was any way of clipping it onto the steelwork of this job.

The owner of Trident, Mr Reynolds, agreed a cherry picker would have been far safer but implied this was not an option because the job was at one of the busiest junctions in London and he believed Camden Council would not have allowed one to be used. However outside the court his family said this was a feeble excuse because cherrypickers were used for such work before, but with the work done at night. Reynolds said he had given clear instructions to use a harness. But he never inspected this particular job. His only visits when the work was being done were, allegedly, to look up as he drove past when he stopped at red lights at the Oxford Street junction.

James’ mother was allowed to question Reynolds who admitted he had never sent her son on a safety course. He also admitted that he was continuing to employ casual labour doing this sort of work without safety training but under instruction. "Yes, under the instruction of people who had never been on a safety course themselves", said his mother.

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death. The Coroner directed them to this, or to an open verdict, but stressed that accidental death did not mean no blame, and that an HSE prosecution could follow. However, when the jury were sent out he had said this case was borderline and he was considering unlawful killing. James Harris’s tiredness was a factor in the fall. But the job clearly could have been done in a safer way. The steel frame around the window, which kept being described as a scaffold, was clearly a death trap.

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