Another needless death

In one of life’s sad ironies Ionut Simionica, a young Romanian, was killed on the day of the government’s first Construction Safety Summit on 26^th February 2001.

Ionut was carrying out refurbishment work at St Mary’s Church, Bryanston Square, Westminster when a large section from the base of the foundation fell on him and he was killed. The HSE investigated and subsequently prosecuted Lindsay Barr of Lindsay Barr Associates, David O’Keefe & Co Ltd of south-west London, and sub-contractor Britin Construction Ltd. All were found guilty of health and safety breaches when the case was finally concluded at Southwark Crown Court on 1^st February. Fines totalled £95,000 and costs were £60,000.

The court heard that the project involved underpinning a corner of the church. Risk assessments, prepared by structural engineer Barr, did not address the specific activity of underpinning. When the work started, voids containing rotten wood were discovered in the foundations. Britin’s foreman brought this to the attention of principle contractor David O’Keefe Ltd. An inspection of sorts was held the next day and Barr advised flooding the voids with concrete. Britin agreed to produce a method statement but this was not done. A few days later Ionut was inside when a new pin was being excavated on the outer wall when the base of the foundation collapsed.

The brickwork was interspersed with what HSE later described as "a matrix of rotting wood". There was no propping or other support. Meanwhile, on the same day of the incident that killed Ionut, the movers and shakers of the industry, along with John Prescott, were meeting to express concern about the unacceptable level of death in the industry. And very little else. No stringent new regulatory regime was put in place to prevent the unacceptable deaths. There was talk of a voluntary charter for the big boys in the Major Contractors group and of tough targets coming from the Health and Safety Commission.

The Construction Safety Campaign held a small protest outside. Subsequently most of the Major Contractors have distinguished themselves by refusing to participate even in the mild Worker Advisory Scheme promoted "in partnership" by the construction trade unions.

There has just been a second Construction Safety Summit. According to safety minister Jane Kennedy the industry deserves to be congratulated on its achievements. Construction union UCATT organised a protest outside. They pointed out there were 73 deaths on UK sites in 2003-4 and London had 14 deaths, a 14% increase compared with the previous year.

Four years after the first Summit, Construction Safety Campaign wished to draw attention to the death of Ionut Simionica as it came to Court. They believed that this should have been a manslaughter prosecution. Fair enough you are probably thinking: these companies broke the law and a young man is dead as a consequence. As the case started, however, the judge issued an injunction stating no leaflets on the matter were to be given out within a half mile of Southwark Crown Court. Without the activities of concerned groups such as CSC there is very little pressure for change within the industry; very little that could be called "naming and shaming" to force the industry to clean up its act. No imprisonment for those at the top of the industry. And most importantly no justice for those they kill.