Causeway Coast and Glens Council denies health and safety offences relating to death of bin man

UTV Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council 070722 CAUSEWAY COUNCIL 1 UTV
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council Chief Executive David Jackson entered not guilty pleas to the two of three charges.

Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council today denied health and safety offences relating to the tragic death of a bin man.

Appearing at Antrim Crown Court on behalf of CCGC and with relatives of John Winton watching on from both the pubic gallery and the videolink system, Chief Executive David Jackson entered not guilty pleas to two of three charges against the council.

The council, with their head office at Cloonavin on the Portstewart Road in Coleraine, denied accusations that “being an employer failed to ensure, so far as was reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all your employees,” and failed to ensure the health, safety and welfare of non-employees on November 6, 2018.

The third count, alleging that the counsel “failed to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks to the health and safety of your employees to which they were exposed whilst they were at work,” was not put and defence counsel Ronan Daly told Judge Roseanne McCormick KC the defence team intend to lodge a no bill application to have that charge dismissed.

The charges arise following the tragic death of 51-year-old father-of-two John Winton who passed away after he was struck by the bin lorry he was working on.

The bin man, who was also a retained firefighter at Limavady Fire Station, died after a road traffic collision at Mount Eden in Limavady at around 7.30am.

As soon as the case was called on Wednesday, Judge McCormick turned to the family and told them she wanted to offer “the court’s unreserved sympathy and condolences” and it was only then that she turned to the arraignment of the council.

Following Mr Jackson’s denials, the judge ordered Mr Daly and prosecuting KC Barra McGrory to lodge their skeleton arguments ahead of the no bill hearing which she scheduled for October 11 and warned that any trial “will most likely be in April, May or June”.

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