Cleveland Bridge found guilty of safety breaches after death of employee

A Teesside building firm has been found guilty of safety breaches in relation to the death of an engineer.The collapsed company, Cleveland Bridge, was found guilty of four offences relating to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and the Work in Height Regulations 2005.In October 2016 Keith Poppleton was working on a 25ft high overhead travelling crane. The dad-of-three fell through a hatch and landed on a pile of girders.

The 54-year-old sub-contractor from Stockton suffered multiple injuries. An inquest into his death in 2018 heard he was confirmed dead on arrival at James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough.

Last week Cleveland Bridge, which collapsed earlier this year, was found guilty of four offences. The firm was then committed for sentencing at Teesside Crown Court on December 17.

The hearing was attended by Mr Poppleton's widow and daughters. It heard that the walkway had been installed before 1983 with witness statements outlining the access panels were not assessed regularly.Following Mr Poppleton's death, inspection of the access hatch he fell from only had one of four clips in place, and the remaining clip was in a poor condition.

Administrators were called in earlier this year and it was confirmed in September that despite weeks of negotiations to save the firm it would close for good.The case will be heard at Teesside Crown Court on Friday, December 17.