A worker died from electrocution at Sudley Castle in Gloucestershire after making contact with an overhead cable while working on a marquee at the site. The victim was Mr Krysztof Wiecek, aged 45 from Poland. An inquest in to what happened has revealed that the foreman in charge of erecting the marquee failed to implement a new risk assessment when the cables were spotted and instead continued with a generic assessment.
The foreman, Mr John Matthews, was asked several questions about his awareness of the power cables and the potential dangers than they posed at a court inquest in to Mr Wiecek’s death but chose for the most part to exercise his right not to answer questions under the Coroner’s rules.
There appears to be clear elements of a claim here in that an injury has been caused as a result of an accident and that it seems to be that the foreman was aware of a potential problem with the marquee but failed to take appropriate steps and put in health and safety precautions to combat the risks of injury. If the circumstances were being investigated from a liability standpoint it appears likely that the foreman, his manager or the man in charge of the event would be found liable.
The court also spoke to Robert Walker, an electrical contractor working on the site. He was not responsible for the overhead lines but stated that it was ‘primary school stuff not to go near overhead power cables’. However, he admitted that in his opinion if the frame of the marquee had touched the cables it would have been a catastrophe, with the ultimate danger ‘death by electrocution’.
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