Firm fined £200,000 over father and son fall deaths

Fraudulent safety certificates had been provided for a building site platform that collapsed and caused a father and son to fall to their deaths, a court has heard.

David Bottomley, 53, and his son Clayton, 17, were working on the outside of the 21st floor of the Unity Building in Liverpool when the platform collapsed in May 2021.

A Health and Safety Inspectorate (HSE) investigation found their deaths were a “preventable tragedy” because operator Adastra Access Ltd had “failed to do proper checks on safety critical systems and relied on fraudulent certificates”.

At Liverpool Magistrates Court, the company was fined £200,000 over the deaths of the two men from Knottingley in West Yorkshire.

Witnesses to the incident, on 19 May 2021, were reported to have heard a loud whistling noise before seeing the platform collapse to the ground at speed.

David Bottomley died at the scene from massive blunt force chest injuries and his son died three days later in hospital.

The HSE investigation found the mast climbing work platform (MCWP) supplied by Adastra Access Ltd, and manufactured by Wuxi Huake Heavy Machinery Company in China, had been at Chapel Street the site since 2019.

Investigators found it was not fitted with suitable safety-critical equipment required by British Standards, the HSE said.

It said had the platform been equipped with proper safety systems, David and Clayton would have been alerted to the motor failure and the equipment taken out of service.

The company named on the conformity certificates had not conducted any accreditation examinations, verifications, or testing of the MCWP.

Following the, Adastra Access Ltd withdrew its entire fleet of MCWPs from service.

In a statement to the court, David’s wife and mother of Clayton, Paula Bottomley, said the tragedy had “broken” her.

She added: “Never in my lifetime did I ever begin to imagine having to say goodbye to my son at only 17 years old, just days after losing my husband.”

David and Mrs Bottomley’s daughter, Molly, said: “I have completed all my GCSEs and A-Levels, attended prom, passed my driving test, got into my first relationship, and moved out into student accommodation, all without my dad and brother, which is absolutely soul-crushing.”

Adastra Access Ltd, of Middlemore Lane West, Aldridge, Walsall, which is now in liquidation, was found guilty of breaching section 6 (1)(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

As well as being fined, the firm was ordered to pay £14,886 in costs and a victim surcharge of £2,000.

Retired HM inspector Christine McGlynn, who led the investigation, said a family had been “devastated” and “robbed of a loving husband, father and son”.

“David and Clayton Bottomley should have safely returned home to their family at the end of their working day, but they did not due to Adastra Access Ltd’s fundamental failures to ensure the equipment they supplied was safe.

“The company failed to conduct proper checks on safety-critical systems and relied on fraudulent certificates.

“These failures cost two lives. This case serves as a stark reminder that cutting corners on safety has the most serious consequences,” she added.

Following the investigation, HSE issued a safety alert to the construction industry warning some MCWPs were not fitted with suitable controls to manage the risk of platforms falling at dangerous speeds.