Bedfordshire entertainment firm fined after worker's death from fall
An entertainment studio has been fined £16,000 after a rigging expert fell 11 metres and died.
The fatal accident, involving self-employed contractor Russell Bowry, happened on 13 March 2018 at the ELP Broadcast and Events' Cardington Hangar Studios base at Cardington Airfield, on the edge of Bedford.
Mr Bowry, 52, from Lower Stondon in Bedforshire, died in Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge three days after the fall.
He had been part of a team building a water and windproof cube which was part of a stage for a West End musical, due to be performed at Cardington Hangar Studios.
Mr Bowry was working on the roof of the cube when he fell through the structure.
The inquest into his death heard he was wearing a safety harness which had a single lanyard connected to it but that was not attached to an anchor point.
ELP pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £16,000 at Luton Magistrates' Court.
The company was also ordered to pay £2,968.70 in costs, following a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation.
It found that ELP had not planned or put in place a safe system of work.
The investigation also revealed the company did not have its own health and safety policy or make sure there was correct supervision for workers.
HSE enforcement lawyer Samantha Wells said: "This tragic incident should not have happened.
"It is vital the entertainment sector has safe systems of work so when it puts on a good show, the workers behind the scenes are protected at all times."
The inquest into Mr Bowry's death concluded on 17 October 2019, and the medical cause of death was reported as hypoxic brain injury, traumatic cardiac arrest and multi-trauma.
Bedfordshire and Luton senior coroner, Emma Whitting, recorded a narrative conclusion as an accident.
She added there were contributing factors to the death including no written safe system of work, and Mr Bowry's lanyard not being clipped on.
The senior coroner wrote a prevention of future deaths report to the Professional Light and Sound Association and National Rigging Advisory Council in 2019.
She raised concerns about unsafe working practices routinely encountered by riggers within the industry and riggers had little influence over fall protection safety measures.
The senior coroner added she was reassured by ELP that it had made changes to improve safety practices for employees and workers but feared more deaths could happen unless the industry took action.
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