Parkway worker spoke of fears over safety - court hears

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Mark Williams (pictured) made his chilling remark the day before the telescopic handler he was driving overturned, crushing him beneath the cab.
The 41-year-old, from Nuneham Courtenay, Oxfordshire, died at the scene on July 20, 2011.
Mr Williams was employed by contractors Attleys Roofing Ltd and the principal contractor responsible for safety on the site was Costain Limited.
Both firms face four charges of breaching health and safety laws - two counts of failure to conduct a suitable and sufficient risk assessment; one count of failure to ensure health and safety and welfare of an employee at work and one count of exposing others to a risk to health and safety.
Each company denies all the charges, which have been brought by the Health & Safety Executive.
Yesterday (Thursday) Judge Angela Morris was due to begin summing up the evidence presented to the jury during the four-week trial.
The hearing has been told that Parkway was a major project in Newbury, involving the demolition of existing buildings and the construction of a new shopping centre with a two-storey basement car park.
Developer Standard Life hired Costain Limited to act as the principal contractor for the £100 million project.
Mr Williams was working on site at the junction of East Street with Northbrook Street when tragedy struck.
He was using a telescopic handler, or tele-handler, similar to a forklift truck.
However, the hearing was told, whereas a fork-lift truck can only lift loads vertically, with minimal forward movement, a tele-handler is fitted with a telescopic boom which allows it also to ‘reach out’ and place a load ahead of the vehicle.
Mr Williams was an experienced tele-handler operator who had been trained in its use.
On the day before the accident Mr Williams raised concerns about site safety at a supervisors’ meeting, the court was told.
Witnesses described him warning that someone “was going to get killed” if something wasn’t done about the work area, specifically the perceived risk of colliding with pedestrians.
On July 20, 2011, Mr Williams was operating the tele-handler; the boom was raised and the forks were loaded with a pallet of tiles.
During this turn, the jury has heard, the vehicle tipped over and Mr Williams jumped from the cab.
Tragically, he was unable to clear the area as the perimeter gate was shut and blocking his way.
The tele-handler fell onto him, pinning him to the ground, while the boom crashed through the fence into the public highway beyond, spilling its load of tiles.
It was conceded during the hearing that Mr Williams was not wearing a seat belt.
An expert witness called by Attleys Roofing, Avijit Maitra, said on Tuesday that Attleys Roofing was entitled to rely on the competency of trained staff, such as Mr Williams, for maintaining site safety.
Asked how the firm’s managing director was supposed to ensure 38 employees were working safely on site, he replied: “Each job has a gang, say three, under the charge of a supervisor.”
In this instance, Mr Williams was the supervisor and Mr Maitra said: “He had been doing the job many years, having joined the company in 1989. He had been a supervisor for 10 or 12 of those. He was a trained and experienced supervisor.”
The case continues.