BT Criticised by Coroner, Police and Union after Worker’s Death

A telephone engineer was killed when she was thrown from the top of a telegraph pole, an inquest has heard. British Telecom employee Tara Whelan, 30, died in hospital on 2 June 2001, a week after the incident.

The inquest, which reached an accidental-death verdict, heard that a high-sided lorry snagged a telephone cable hanging low across a road, snapping the pole in two. Despite Ms Whelan wearing a safety belt and helmet, she suffered serious head injuries as the pole was dragged along the road.

The original September 2002 inquest was scrapped after the coroner objected to the absence of a senior BT representative at the hearing or any details of BT's safety rules on low-hanging cables. BT has now issued new safety rules but was criticised by the police for only making the changes 17 months after the accident. The company will not face corporate manslaughter charges, however after considering a police report the inquest jury requested unanimously that an investigation be undertaken into BT procedures.

Tara’s union, CWU, said: "It is the firm view of the CWU that there has been a clear breach" of health and safety law, adding "the union will be asking the HSE to prosecute."
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