Manager Avoids Prison After Worker Was Buried Alive in Surrey

Contracts manager Anthony O’Connor has avoided immediate prison after labourer Gheorghita Arsene was buried alive when a deep trench collapsed at a construction site in Banstead, Surrey. The 33-year-old Romanian national, known as Geo, died on 24 June 2020 while working to replace a damaged pipe at a former care home site.

O’Connor, 42, of Romford, Essex, pleaded guilty to failing to discharge his duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. He was sentenced to 10 months in custody, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.

Two companies involved in the construction project have also been ordered to pay more than £1 million in fines following a lengthy trial at the Old Bailey.

The fatal incident happened on Park Road in Banstead, where an old care home had been demolished to make way for a new purpose-built facility.

Mr Arsene was working at the bottom of a trench approximately 10ft deep. The excavation had been dug using a three-tonne mechanical digger, and the labourer was clearing soil with a shovel and pickaxe while attempting to replace a damaged pipe.

A colleague operating the digger reportedly shouted a warning when the trench became dangerous. Mr Arsene managed to take only a couple of steps before one or more of the trench walls collapsed, sending a large amount of earth onto him.

His co-worker immediately raised the alarm as desperate efforts began to free him from the soil.

Firefighters and ambulance crews were called to the site, but rescuers faced considerable difficulty because of the weight of the earth surrounding the trapped worker.

Mr Arsene could not be safely removed from the trench, preventing paramedics from carrying out chest compressions. He was pronounced dead at 14:44, around an hour after the collapse.

Health and safety inspectors subsequently found that the trench had no supporting structures to prevent its walls from collapsing.

Excavated soil had also been placed immediately beside the trench, increasing the danger of material falling back into the excavation.

At the Old Bailey, prosecutor John McGuinness KC told jurors that Mr Arsene's death was entirely avoidable.

The Health and Safety Executive later said the worker had died because basic precautions had not been put in place to protect workers from the well-known dangers associated with excavation work.

The HSE said O’Connor had seen workers inside the trench without adequate protection and was aware of the measures that should have been implemented to prevent a collapse.

Following a trial lasting more than three months, principal contractor Appledorn Developments Limited and T Vaughan Limited were found guilty of health and safety offences.

Judge Judy Khan KC fined the now-defunct Appledorn Developments £500,000, saying there had been "cost-cutting at the expense of safety".

T Vaughan Limited, also known as TVL, was fined £650,000 and ordered to pay £40,000 in costs. The company was given six years to pay the fine.

Judge Khan described Mr Arsene's death as a terrible tragedy, stressing that it could have been prevented.

She said the 24 June 2020 incident involved a worker being fatally crushed while carrying out work inside an unsupported deep trench.

In sentencing O’Connor, Judge Khan said he had "actual foresight" of the risk of harm.

O’Connor had been TVL's most senior representative at the site on the day of the fatal incident. His guilty plea related to his failure to discharge his health and safety responsibilities.

A jury had previously considered a manslaughter charge against O’Connor but deliberated for 73 hours and 28 minutes without reaching a verdict. The jury was eventually discharged.

Site manager Peter Wraith, 54, from New Waltham in Lincolnshire, was cleared of manslaughter, while assistant site manager Gregory Peake, 51, from Bromley in south-east London, was acquitted of failing to discharge his health and safety duty.

Mr Arsene's mother, Ienuta Arsene, attended the sentencing hearing by videolink from Romania and described her son as a good man who worked to support his family.

The court heard that Mr Arsene had spoken to his mother on the day he died and told her he was working inside a deep trench and feared it could collapse.

Although she expressed concern, he reassured her that nothing would happen and that the work would soon be over.

In a statement to the court, his mother described the devastating effect his death had had on the family.

She also revealed the exceptionally close relationship she shared with her son, explaining that she had previously donated one of her kidneys to him after he suffered renal failure.

T Vaughan's barrister, Prashant Popat KC, told the court that the company had taken the incident extremely seriously and that staff throughout the business had been deeply affected by Mr Arsene's death.

The court heard that TVL, founded by Thomas Vaughan in 2010, operated as a close-knit family business and had spent almost £3 million on health and safety.

However, the prosecution argued that the company's systems had not been sufficiently implemented on the site where Mr Arsene died.

Appledorn Developments was not represented at the sentencing hearing. The company entered liquidation in 2023 after reporting assets of £2.5 million the previous year.

The Health and Safety Executive said the case demonstrated the potentially fatal consequences of failing to control well-known risks associated with excavation work.

For Mr Arsene's family, the court proceedings have brought the circumstances of his death into focus more than six years after the fatal collapse. The sentencing has also underlined the responsibility placed on construction companies and managers to ensure workers are properly protected when carrying out high-risk excavation work.