Former EDS man awaits sentencing.
Site supervisor Paul Priestley has been found guilty of a failure of care after a worker plunged to his death whilst gutting the former Cadbury’s Somerdale factory in Keynsham.
Priestley, 54, of Halifax, denied failing to take reasonable care for the health and safety of others at work, contrary to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
James Stacey was using a mini-digger to push a large piece of fibreglass tank from the fourth floor of the building, Bristol Crown Court heard. But the machine’s toothed bucket snagged on the tank, causing him and the machine to plummet with it to the ground. The 31-year-old, from Barry, died instantly, the court heard.
Priestley’s firm Euro Dismantling Services Ltd admitted wrongdoing and he will be sentenced with them later.
After the verdict was returned Stacey’s mother Gillian, 66, from Barry, said: “James never stopped smiling. He was a wonderful son and brother and, most of all, a wonderful dad to Molly and a loving partner to Hannah.”
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