Dear Colleagues,
Following Crown Court trials in Teeside and London earlier this year, BT have been fined again for safety offences – this time £51,000 plus £2,166.83p costs and a £120 victim surcharge at Boston Magistrates Court this month. The conviction was in relation to 15 safety offences involving BT contractors who put the public in danger at sites in Kirton, Sleaford and Tattershall.
Lincolnshire Council investigators found Safety shortcomings at all three sites that posed a serious risk to both motorists and pedestrians. Amongst other things there were inadequate traffic control measures and no pedestrian walkways.
The offences took place between January and March this year.
In a statement a BT spokesman said that BT had carried out 4,000 jobs in Lincolnshire during the last year and BT always seeks to follow the correct safety procedures but on this occasion BT’s sub-contractors fell short and BT apologised for what happened.
The CWU Health, Safety & Environment Department hopes that the result of these prosecutions will have a salutary effect and underline the importance of prioritising safety both in the workplace and when working on the roads.
NOTE to Branches:
> LTB No 541/16 reported that BT had been fined £51,000 plus £2,166.83p costs and a £120 victim surcharge at Boston Magistrates Court in relation to 15 safety offences involving BT contractors who put the public in danger at sites in Kirton, Sleaford and Tattershall where all three sites posed a serious risk to both motorists and pedestrians. There were inadequate traffic control measures and no pedestrian walkways.
> LTB No. 345/2016 reported that BT had been fined £600,000 plus £60,000 costs at Teesside Crown Court, in Middlesbrough, for health and safety breaches after two members fell from step ladders on the same day, working on the same job, one after the other. The victims sustained several serious head and back injuries, including multiple fractures of the skull and spine. The accidents occurred at BT’s Darlington Automatic Telephone Exchange (ATE). The trial took place in May 2016.
> LTB No. 382/2016 reported that BT had been fined £500,000 plus £98,913.51 costs at London’s Old Bailey after an engineer fell seven metres from a loft in a London block of flats, breaking his back and his ankles. The Trial took place in June.
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer