A COMPANY has been fined £170,000 and told the death of a 21-year-old who was electrocuted by a live 240-volt cable could have been avoided.

Bradley Watts, of Manningtree, was working in the roof space at Natures Way Food, in Chichester, insulating pipes when he was electrocuted by a live wire in June 2011.

The company he worked for, Mistley Insulation Services, had been sub-contracted by Danston Technical Services for the task.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Chichester Crown Court heard on Friday the live cable had been part of an old system that had been removed by Natures Way Food in 2008, but was not identified in any way.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive concluded the company had plenty of opportunity to deal with redundant cables.

However, it had always assumed they were not live and had the old cabling been removed in a systematic and controlled manner, or subsequent checks of the loft space identified examples of poor practice, then the death could have been avoided.

Natures Way Food pleaded guilty to breaching two sections of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £170,000 and must pay costs of £35,403.

Bradley’s mother, Mandy Watts, said she would never get over what happened to her son.

She said: “All the apologies won’t bring him back.”

 

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