Construction firm fined £1m over worker's death in Harringay

Robert Morris, aged 48, was killed by a reversing road-sweeper, reports Finn Logue

A construction company has been fined £1million after one of its workers was killed while resurfacing a road in Harringay.

Robert Morris, aged 48, was killed by a reversing road-sweeper while working on the resurfacing of Pemberton Road on 30th May 2022. A colleague at Marlborough Highways Limited, Jamie Smith, was driving the vehicle.

A joint Metropolitan Police and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation was launched against Marlborough Highways Limited, and identified a number of failings which lead to the death.

A lack of segregation between vehicles and persons as well as inadequate traffic safety measures ultimately proved to be fatal, they found.

HSE principal inspector James Golfinch said: “Robert was entitled to return home safely from work to his family but the lack of segregation of vehicles and pedestrians by Marlborough Highways Limited meant he did not.”

He added: “This was a case where appropriate controls had been identified but were not being implemented on site.”

The majority of construction transport accidents are caused by improper segregation of pedestrians and vehicles, according to HSE.

Marlborough Highways Limited, of Chelmsford, Essex, pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety Act and were fined £1m.

In a separate case brought forward by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Jamie Smith pleaded guilty to the offence of causing death by dangerous driving and was given a two-year suspended prison sentence at Wood Green Crown Court.

The family of Robert Morris said in a statement they were “sad and angry”.

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