Property company fined after apprentice dies on building site

Mark Mansfield

A property management company has been fined and its managing director given a suspended prison sentence after an 18-year-old apprentice joiner was crushed to death by unsecured building materials at a renovation project in north Wales.

Chloe Bidwell, 18, was working at a property in Bangor in December 2023 when a stack of large wooden boards toppled onto her as she worked alone.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found there was no safe system for storing the boards, no lone working policy, inadequate supervision and insufficient training.

Varcity Living Limited, based in Bangor, admitted breaching health and safety legislation and was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £10,080 in costs at Llandudno Magistrates’ Court.

The company’s director, David Horrocks, of Y Felinheli, pleaded guilty to an offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act. He was sentenced to 26 weeks’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay £7,886 in costs.

Miss Bidwell was working at a residential property on Deiniol Road on 20 December 2023 when the incident happened.

She had been working alone and was later found dead after she failed to respond to messages or return home.

Investigators believe she had been attempting to retrieve a sheet of plywood when a stack of 28 large wooden boards, some weighing up to 30kg, fell onto her. The unsecured boards crushed her neck, causing fatal injuries.

The HSE found the boards had been stored upright against a wall without any support and that the risk of them falling had not been identified.

The investigation also found inadequate site supervision, no suitable lone working procedures, no safe storage policy for the boards and an inadequate risk assessment.

In a statement read after the hearing, Chloe’s mother, Clare Stephenson-Brown, described her daughter as “full of life, energy and determination”.

“Chloe was only 18,” she said.

“She had so many talents and dreams: a skilled joiner, a rugby player, a surfer, a skydiver, and a young woman who was about to travel the world and begin her journey towards becoming a firefighter.

“She was wise beyond her years, brave, strong and incredibly grounded.”

Describing the family’s loss, she added: “Chloe died instantly and alone. The fact that she was by herself in those final moments is something that causes us unbearable pain and something we will carry forever.”

Mrs Stephenson-Brown said the family believed Chloe had been “let down at work”.

“Our lives will never, ever be the same again,” she said.

“We urge employers to look beyond compliance and truly consider the responsibility they hold for the lives in their care. Safety must be meaningful in practice, ensuring risks are properly managed, lone working is safe, and that everyone who goes to work returns home.”

Preventable

HSE inspector Rachael Newman said Chloe’s death had been entirely preventable.

“Chloe Bidwell was a young apprentice joiner at the very beginning of her career. She had every right to expect that her employer would take the basic steps needed to keep her safe at work,” she said.

“The tragedy of Chloe’s death is made all the more jarring because it was so wholly avoidable. Apprentices should not be working alone on a construction site, and Chloe died in circumstances which should never have been able to happen.”

She added that the company had failed to provide a safe storage system for the heavy boards and had not given its apprentice the information, training or supervision needed to keep her safe.

The HSE said the case should serve as a reminder that employers have a duty to ensure building materials are stored safely and that lone workers are properly supervised and monitored.