TV documentary helps convict Hackney firm

Footage filmed for a TV documentary about medics has been used to help secure a conviction against a company carrying out construction work after the death of a 25-year-old.

Regentford Ltd, of Rookwood Road, Hackney was today fined £250,000 after being convicted of breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act etc. 1974, following an eight day trial at Croydon Crown Court. They were also ordered to pay costs of £71,603.01.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the death of employee Balwinder Kumar (also known as Binder Singh) on 24 February 2005. Mason and plasterer Mr Kumar, from Forest Gate, was re-pointing brickwork when he fell from scaffolding at the rear of a building in High Street, South Norwood, Croydon. He suffered severe head injuries in the first storey fall, was taken to King's College Hospital and died on 1 March 2005.

When HSE went to investigate, the scaffolding Mr Kumar had been standing on had been removed. During the investigation it emerged that a BBC television crew filming the documentary 'Trauma', had been accompanying the medical staff who attended the site, and HSE obtained footage showing scaffolding in very poor condition with insufficient guard rails and an inadequate working platform.

The HSE investigation showed that health and safety on the site had not been managed appropriately by Regentford Ltd. There was no one in effective control of health and safety on the site.

HSE Inspector Nigel Evans said:

"The footage from the documentary crew showed that the scaffolding was totally inadequate for the job in hand. We will use all evidence at our disposal to prosecute employers who fail to manage health and safety risks properly. Mr Kumar needlessly lost his life on a small construction site, and it is these smaller sites where a significant proportion of fatalities in the industry occur each year.

"The message is simple: whatever the size of company or site, you have exactly the same responsibility to make sure employees have a safe and healthy working environment - and we can and will prosecute if these duties are neglected."

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Interesting, but I wonder how far it goes, would say CCTV footage be usable as evidence?

If so, then it really could be a big brother scenario. Great when its warranted as in this case, but possibly open for abuse. Could it sporn a whole industry of Amulance chaser type investigators?

Dunno if some Civil Service H&S depts have quotas and targets?

You know me, always like to see if there is another viewpoint or angle

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Generally all photos/videos/CCTV images are useable as evidence - just requires someone to give evidence of its provenance -it is called as 'Real Evidence' in the legal vernacular.

In fact CCTV is regularly used in court proceedings.

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That's a bit frightening, your innocence finally proved by a bit of chance TV footage rather than a Police investigation!

Welcome aboard by the way

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cheers Steve
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Thanks for the warm welcome, Steve! Love the advice I've been reading up on so far

Hi I agree with you partially, in some instances were perhaps the CCTV image is very poor quality or only captures the events from a limited angle. I remember a episode of Malcolm in the middle I watched with the kids where the mum from the show was prosecuted for a traffic violation caught on CCTV, how ever it was later revealed that the camera captured one side and she was actually in the right !! Poor example but you get my drift.

Overall I think CCTV is fundamental for our safety, call it big brother but people lie, full coverage CCTV does not.

In the case above there isn't really a way that the CCTV could of been incorrect, the Scaffolding was static so it would be a true image. By the way where did you find this news piece, this is the type of thing you never hear about in national media !

Probably the most controversial post I've made on this forum.

The technical is very developed now , every pics and video could be forge after the accident happens .

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Kumar was quite unfortunate in this incident. I'm certain that employers and companies who are looking to avoid this situation will learn a valuable lesson from this.

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