05-03-2007
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Firm fined over man's drain fall
BBC NEWS | England | Derbyshire | Firm fined over man's drain fall
A firm has been fined £8,000 after a partially-sighted pensioner fell down a manhole its workmen had left uncovered and unprotected.
Gething Bowes, 83, from Derbyshire, needed hospital treatment after the incident at Ockbrook last September.
On Thursday, the firm apologised at South Derbyshire Magistrates' Court and said it had since changed procedures.
The Health and Safety Executive said the accident could have been much worse, saying firms must learn lessons.
Mr Bowes, who is blind in one eye and has only partial sight in the other, attended the court hearing along with the managing director of Acidisation of Sheffield, a specialist firm of drain cleaners.
  (I) heard one man shout: 'There's a blind man fallen down the hole' 
Gething Bowes
Magistrates heard two workers from the company were working on the Ridings in Ockbrook near Derby, on drain clearance.
One lifted the manhole cover, then went back to his vehicle across the road for tools and barriers.
The court heard that Mr Bowes was walking along the Ridings on his way see a friend and became vaguely aware of a workman and a vehicle to his right.
"Mr Bowes did not see the manhole and was not seen approaching the manhole," said Stuart Parry, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive.
The firm admitted two breaches of health and safety regulations and were fined £8,000 including costs.
Mr Bowes needed hospital treatment and had a swollen leg for months, but has since made a full recovery.
"I was down this hole and heard one man shout: 'There's a blind man fallen down the hole' and they all came running over with cones and put them round me while I was down the hole. That was the funny part," he said outside court.
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