Family 'denied full justice' after man electrocuted on building site

THE family of a young man electrocuted on a construction site say they have been denied "full justice" for his death despite his employer being found guilty of breaching health and safety laws.

Michael Adamson, 26, from Bo'ness, was killed while working on the construction of a sports centre in Dundee in 2005.

Edinburgh-based Mitie Engineering Services were yesterday found guilty of failing to follow health and safety guidelines.

The firm is likely to face a hefty fine when it is sentenced at Dundee Sheriff Court next week.

Last week, three of the Mitie's senior employees walked free from court after being told they had no case to answer over the electrician's death.

But Mr Adamson's sister, Louise Adamson, 32, said the family were angry at the court's failure to find individuals accountable for the mistakes that led to her brother's death.

Miss Adamson, a lawyer who lives in Trinity, said: "The verdict is a relief as much as anything, but we are annoyed that the case against the three individuals collapsed.

"We want other companies to sit up and take notice. It's directors and managers who need to ensure the safety of their employees and they should find themselves in the dock if they don't do that.

"The hurt we feel over Michael's death will last a long time and nothing that happens now will bring him back.

"This is not full justice, that would have been those individuals being brought to book."

Mr Adamson, who grew up in Pilton before completing his apprenticeship as an electrician at Stevenson College, was killed while working on a live wire which had been marked "not in use".

In a statement, his family gave this message to the firm and employees: "Know that every time we see a Mitie Engineering silver-grey van, we think of the private ambulance of the same colour which brought the body of a loving son, brother and fiance from a Dundee mortuary to an Edinburgh funeral director's.

"And we hope for the sake of all families like ours that never again will one of your employees leave home in a works' van and return in one belonging to an undertaker."

The Scottish Trades Union Congress welcomed the guilty verdict but also said individual managers should be held to account after deaths at work.

Ian Tasker, STUC assistant secretary, said: "Yet again we witness a bereaved family left cheated by a justice system that appears powerless to punish those who take management decisions which place the lives of their workers at risk.

"This is a clear example of how decision-makers can hide behind the corporate veil, deflecting liability on an inanimate body such as a company."

Sheriff Elizabeth Munro ruled last week that Mitie executives William Mitchell, Scott Wallace and Ian Storrar had no case to answer.