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Building site victim's dad in justice battle
Father to pursue civil case against company
The father of a Leighton man killed in a building site accident in Aylesbury has vowed to continue his 'fight for justice' for his son.
Speaking after an inquest into the death of Joshua Bladon, dad Tony said he was pursuing a civil case against Joshua's employers, Russell Smith Ltd.
The inquest at Amersham Magistrates' Court heard how Joshua, 22, was working on a house extension when a trench collapsed, burying him under thick clay.
The court heard how Joshua and digger driver Domenico Iannone were the only two people working on the site in Langdon Avenue when tragedy struck in April, 2008.
Mr Iannone said: "I was digging with the machine and Josh was on the dumper.
"I turned around to open the bucket of mud into the dumper and as I turned around Josh had disappeared and that's when I noticed the trench had collapsed.
"I realised there was Josh under there.
"I picked up a shovel and went to have a dig and realised I needed to get help."
Mr Iannone found neighbour John Tucker and told him to call 999.
Mr Tucker told the inquest Mr Iannone was "digging like a man possessed" trying to rescue Mr Bladon.
However, it proved impossible to release him before emergency crews arrived and he was declared dead an hour after the trench collapsed.
At the time of the accident, Mr Bladon, of Kiteleys Green, had been working for Russell Smith for 18 months.
Mr Smith said the experienced builder understood the 'golden rule' that nobody should ever go into a trench more than 1.2 metres deep.
However, the court heard that Mr Bladon had never been on an official health and training course with the company, having started work one month after relevant training had been given.
David Romford, from the Health and Safety Executive, said a new on-site risk assessment should have been undertaken following a visit from the council's building control team that morning, which insisted the trenches be dug deeper.
He also said precautions to prevent entry into the trenches were 'insufficient'. Mr Smith said safety messages were conveyed as a matter of course to staff on every site.
Summing up the case to the jury, Coroner Richard Hullett said: "In this case, Joshua was effectively buried and encased in this horrible thick clay and the effect of that prevented his chest moving.
"It was like being in a vice. He would not have been able to breathe and he would have died quite rapidly.
"How he came to be in the trench remains something of a mystery.
"There are two working possibilities – either he went into the trench to carry out a piece of work and was buried, or he slipped and fell into the trench and, as he did so, that may have precipitated a collapse of the soil."
The jury returned a narrative verdict in which they concluded that the unsupported trench had collapsed but that there was insufficient evidence to establish why he was in the trench.
During the inquest, Mr Bladon's family described Joshua as "a hard-working, non-drinking, non-smoking individual who put his family, friends and total strangers before himself".
His headstone bears one of his favourite movie lines, from the film Gladiator: "What we do in life echoes in eternity."
Speaking after the inquest, Tony Bladon said: "We have now got to wait for the HSE reports, whether they are going to prosecute or not and we are taking out civil proceedings. We are still fighting for justice."
Harry Vann, the lawyer acting on behalf of Russell Smith Ltd, said: "On behalf of the company and Russell Smith, I would like to pass on their very sincere condolences."
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Weather for Leighton Buzzard
Tuesday 22 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 10 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
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