LTB 431/18 Openreach Engineer – Fatal Fall From Height – Ladder Accident
No. 431/2018
1 August 2018
Our Ref: NS/22
Openreach Engineer – Fatal Fall From Height – Ladder Accident
To: BT Branches
Dear Colleagues,
Further to LTB 364/18 Openreach Engineer – Fatal Fall From Height – Ladder Accident, many of you will be aware of the recent tragic death of an Openreach engineer and Openreach have shared the information with the rest of the Openreach family through the July edition of Safe and Well. The article says:
“Nobody in Openreach or BT ever wants to be the one to share this type of news and our thoughts are with Gary’s family, friends and work colleagues during this difficult time.
Gary fell from a ladder erected against a wall whilst working at a customer’s premises on the 17th of May; he was taken to the Norfolk and Norwich hospital and then transferred to Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge where he sadly died on 13th June. We have not had official confirmation of the cause of death.
A full joint accident investigation was carried out by our Openreach Health and Safety team and Union Safety Representatives. It found that all the necessary PPE was correctly worn and that process and training were correctly followed. Beyond that we don’t know the cause of the fall. It’s human nature to speculate as to the cause of the accident, but until we’ve got more information, speculation isn’t helpful to anyone.
Please think very carefully about the impact of anything that you may post on social media, as some early comments were been seen by, and caused distress to, Gary’s family.
This is a sad and distressing situation, especially so for people closest to Gary, whether family or work colleagues. If you find that you need extra support due to the nature of this incident, please remember that the services of the Employee Assistance Programme(EAP) are there for you. If you need to talk with someone, get in touch with them on 0800 917 6767 or via https://www.livewell.optum.com(password: BTUK). It’s confidential, free and available 24/7 –not just during work hours.
We’re all part of the Openreach family so please keep looking out for each other.”
We understand that the police are investigating the accident.
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
18LTB431 Openreach Engineer – Fatal Fall From Height – Ladder Accident