FEATURE NEWS
£500K FINE FOR FIREWORK FIRM AFTER YOUNG FATHER KILLED IN BLAST
A Peterborough company has been fined £500,000 after a young father was killed in an explosion at a firework factory.
Twenty-four-year-old Brendan Ledgister was working for Le Maitre Ltd when one of the products he was using ignited and caused an explosion on 2 October 2018.
Brendan, who lived in Peterborough, had only become a father eight months before and was described as “kind, gentle and funny”.
Brendan’s father Gladstone Ledgister said: “It was the worst day in my life. My only son and best friend died. The suffering is still embedded in my mind and will never leave me until I die.
“He was such a nice boy, he was kind, gentle, funny, and happy – and its all been taken away from us – especially from his daughter. She didn’t even know him.”
PROPERTY OWNER SENTENCED AFTER BUILDER SUFFERED LIFE-CHANGING INJURIES
A Derbyshire property owner has been given a community order after a father-of-two sustained life-changing injuries when a wall collapsed on top of him during a barn conversion.
Nigel Edwards failed to have a structural assessment of the outbuildings carried out as part of his planning for the project at his home in Woodhouses. The outbuildings were being converted into holiday let accommodation when a stone wall collapsed on 40-year-old Steven Tyson on 8 October 2021.
The married father of two daughters from Melbourne suffered a catalogue of serious injuries, including a fractured skull, a bleed on the brain and multiple broken bones, including 11 of his ribs. He was rushed to hospital, where he spent the next 18 days in “immense pain”.
Derby Magistrates Court heard how the building had undergone significant structural alterations. It was while Mr Tyson was clearing up outside, that the external face of the stone gable wall collapsed on top of him causing life-threatening injuries.
Peterborough Magistrates Court heard how Mr Ledgister was making a pyrotechnic composition when one of the products ignited causing a significant explosion. He suffered serious burns in the explosion and died of his injuries the following day.
An Investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) determined that the system of work for working with explosive materials was not safe. The tools he was provided with were unsuitable for handling the explosive materials and the facility in which he was working was not of an appropriate standard. The company also failed to provide him with adequate training and he was not appropriately supervised.
Le Maitre Ltd (now known as LM140121 Limited) were found guilty of breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act as, on and prior to the 2 October 2018, they failed in their duties to ensure so far as reasonably practicable the health, safety and welfare of their employees, and hence were found guilty of under section 33(1)(a) of the Act. The company were fined £500,000 and ordered to pay costs of £ 20,788.65.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Nigel Edwards had failed to have a structural assessment of the outbuildings undertaken prior to starting the work. As a result, no measures had been identified or implemented to stabilise the building while underwent the alteration. Similarly, there was no plan in place for dismantling parts of the building safely, exposing workers and members of the public to the risk of injury or death from the full or partial collapse of the structures.
Nigel Edwards of Tutholme, Woodhouses, Melbourne, Derbyshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 19(1) and 20(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. He was made the subject of a 12-month community order and told to complete 80 hours of unpaid work. He must also pay costs of £4,097.94.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Robert Gidman said: “It is vital that all demolition and dismantling is adequately planned and that a competent structural engineer is engaged by those in control of work where there is the risk of collapse of any structure.
“If this project had been planned effectively, engaging the right people at the right time to ensure a suitable safe system of work was implemented, the life-changing injuries sustained by the injured person could have been prevented.”
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