Worker loses leg building Arsenal stadium

Grant Prior 14 years ago
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Three contractors have been fined a total of £54,000 after a worker helping build Arsenal’s Ashburton Grove stadium was injured so badly, his leg had to be amputated.

A dumper truck drove over the right leg of Michael O’Donovan, 41, from Bromley, while he was kneeling to clean steel shuttering.

His injuries were so severe his leg required amputation above the knee. His pelvis was also fractured in the incident on 30 June 2005.

Main contractor Sir Robert McAlpine Limited and subcontractors McNicholas Plc (now Skanska Utilities Ltd) and Maylim Limited have now been fined following the incident.

City of London Magistrates’ Court heard the HSE investigation showed all three companies had failed to ensure vehicles and pedestrians were properly segregated on site.

It also found the cleaning of shuttering was neither properly planned nor carried out safely.

Following the hearing HSE inspector Loraine Charles said:

“Traffic needs to be managed effectively on all construction sites.

“Had proper controls been in place, this appalling incident would never have happened. As it is, Michael O’Donovan has suffered a severe injury and his life has been changed for ever.

“At construction sites, workers and vehicles need to be separated wherever reasonably practicable. There was no demarcation between the route the dumper took and areas where people could work or were working on this site.

“None of these three companies had carried out a meaningful assessment of the risk to workers of being struck by plant in general and the dumper in particular.”

Sir Robert McAlpine was fined £19,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.

Skanska Utilities Limited was fined £17,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000 while Maylim Limited was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.

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