Council is fined £2m after worker was run over and killed while filling in potholes on road flowing with traffic
A council has been fined £2million after a highway worker was run over and killed while filling in potholes on a busy road.
Father of two Stephen Bell, 57, was struck by a farm digger while making the repairs.
Newport council broke health and safety rules by conducting the work when the road was filled with traffic, a court heard.
Prosecutor Sam Jones said properly closing the road was the ‘only way’ the workers could have safely completed the pothole repair project.
He added: ‘Every vehicle, no matter its type, that passed through, whether at 10mph or at the speed limit of 60mph, created a risk and a risk of the most severe kind.
Father of two Stephen Bell, 57, was struck by a farm digger while making the repairs
‘It’s that failure to secure an appropriate perimeter of the roadworks that is at the heart of the failure of this tragic case.’
He was laying tarmac from the back of a tipper lorry on Langstone Court Road in Newport, Gwent, when he was struck by the digger.
Mr Bell’s wife Jenny described how she had been ‘inconsolable’ after two police officers delivered the news of her husband’s death.
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She said: ‘We were approaching our time, with the girls growing up and with lives of their own, and that has been taken from me.’
The husband and grandfather was ‘the heart of the family’ and grieving family members had since ‘lost the enjoyment of life’, the court heard.
David Sapiecha, defending, described Mr Bell as ‘a popular and enthusiastic employee’.
He said the council would have supported a road closure given the speed limit and narrowness of the road.
He said ‘root and branch’ changes had been made to Newport council’s risk assessment routines and no reportable incidents since.
‘The council have not turned a blind eye to this. They have not ignored it,’ he said.
He described the events that led to Mr Bell’s death as ‘a significant error that allowed other matters to follow’.
Mr Sapiecha asked the court to consider the ‘extremely sensitive’ state of the council’s finances, suggesting it would be service users who suffered from any fine.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive, Britain’s regulator for workplace safety, found the council failed to provide suitable a safety zone and perimeter between the road works area and running lane.
The council admitted breaching health and safety rules in the hearing at Cardiff Crown Court.
Newport council broke health and safety rules by conducting the work when the road was filled with traffic, a court heard
Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke watched footage from the morning and said the risks were ‘obvious’ even to the untrained eye and would have been ‘readily apparent’ if the council had properly prepared.
‘It was the defendant’s failures that led tragically to the death of Mr Stephen Bell,’ she said.
She acknowledged the digger that struck Mr Bell had its bucket in a lowered position which limited visibility but said it was ‘exactly the kind of risk’ the council had a duty to prevent.
Considering the steps the council had taken to ‘remedy’ the problems and ‘very small’ financial reserves, Judge Lloyd-Clarke sentenced a financial penalty of £2 million to be paid within two years.
Newport City Council chief executive Beverly Owen has said the council is ‘extremely sorry’ for Mr Bell’s death in 2019.
‘He was a respected and valued colleague. We again offer our sincere condolences to his family for their loss,’ Ms Owen said.
‘The council takes its health and safety responsibilities very seriously at all times. A guilty plea was entered at the earliest opportunity.
‘Policies, procedures and training were in place at the time of the incident however, thorough and in-depth reviews have also been carried out since the incident.
* After the case wife Jenny spoken about the ‘dark days’ her family have endured in the four years since the traged in July 2019.
She said: ‘I do not have the words to express the pain my family and I felt when we heard the news and losing him so suddenly has left us all heartbroken,’ she said.
‘Stephen was a kind, caring and hardworking man who loved his family very much. He had an amazing sense of humour, a smile that lit up a room and laughter that was contagious.
‘In the years since he’s been gone, we’ve missed him so much. I’ve been unable to share my grandchildren’s birthdays with him. Christmas days. Family holidays with a very special person missing.
‘Recently, our youngest daughter got married and didn’t have her father to walk her down the aisle.’
Mrs Bell added: ‘Since losing Stephen, my daughters have been a pillar of strength and I wouldn’t have made it through these dark days without them.
‘I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our family and friends for their continued support.
‘Nothing will bring my husband back and no matter what justice takes place, it will never be enough to compensate my family and I for what we have all lost.
‘I just want to make sure nothing like this ever happens again so that no other families experience what we have.’
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