Labourer death 'misadventure'

From the archive, first published Friday 23rd Mar 2007.

A misadventure verdict has been returned by an inquest jury into the death of a labourer who was killed when a partly-demolished roof collapsed on him at a building site.

Andrew Bridges, 25, of Heckmondwike, died instantly when the slab fell on him at the site where he was working with his father.

He tripped on the bottom rung of a ladder after dislodging the roof which was left hanging to a wall. Tragically he fell directly under the roof which suddenly collapsed on top of him.

At the end of a two-day hearing yesterday a jury at the hearing in Bradford returned a verdict of misadventure along with a narrative that said: "At around 9.15am on July 14, 2005, on Bradford Road, Andrew Bridges slipped coming down scaffolding when a concrete slab crushed him during the course of work on the site."

The jury had been told that the former electrical shop was being converted into a restaurant for businessman Zaffar Iqbal.

Mr Iqbal had employed Q Homes Yorkshire Ltd to carry out the refurbishment work and owner of the company, Barry Ellis, described to the court how he had been helping to dismantle the roof with Mr Bridges, who lived at Leeds Old Road.

The work should have been completed by two Polish workers who had started it the previous day. Mr Ellis said that the job had proved more difficult than he had expected and had decided to swing the roof down.

As the roof began to drop Mr Ellis removed the remaining supports and had asked Mr Bridges to hit the top of the roof with a sledge hammer.

In a statement that was read to the hearing he described how the roof swung down as it was still attached to a wall by steel bars.

He said that he then saw Mr Bridges trip as he came down the scaffolding and fell under the roof which collapsed on top of him.

He said: "I have no idea how the roof came away from the wall. In all my experience this has never happened and I have always had to prise the roof away with a crow bar."

The jury was told that Mr Bridges's father, Michael, was working on the same building site in Batley only yards from where the accident happened and rushed to the scene after hearing a loud bang to find his son under the slab.

After the jury returned its verdict Mr Whittaker praised Mr Bridges senior for the way he had conducted himself throughout the case and for the way he had given his evidence.