Company fined over 'preventable death' of 18-year-old apprentice Adam Newell

A County Tyrone company has been fined by the Health and Safety Executive after an 18 year old apprentice was electrocuted at a building site in Moneymore.

The incident happened at a new build property on Tirgan Road in the County Londonderry village in October 2021.

Adam Newell, from Bridgend, Coagh, was was well-known in cycling circles as a rising star with the East Tyrone Cycling Club in Cookstown.

Friends described Adam as “friendly character” with a wave and a “well?” greeting for everyone. His cycling club described him as a popular member with a “natural ability on the bike” who “will be sorely missed”.

Following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI), Swift Control Services Limited was fined £10,000 at Londonderry Crown Court yesterday (Friday). The Dungannon based company pleaded guilty to a single health and safety offence at an earlier court hearing.

Mr Newell died “after coming in to contact with a live electrical circuit during work inside the property which was under construction” according to the Health and Safety Executive. Its investigation established that Mr Newell was working alone and unsupervised within a storeroom in the property when the incident occurred. He had been working with a newly laid electrical cable which had become energised, resulting in electrocution.

Lee Dougan, an inspector from HSENI’s Major Investigation Team said: “This tragic death was completely preventable. HSENI will not hesitate to take enforcement action where companies or individuals fail to take the appropriate steps to protect young or inexperienced employees in the workplace.”

The Public Prosecution Service’s Acting Assistant Director Graham Cardwell said: “Prosecutors in the PPS’s Fraud & Departmental Section worked closely with the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland investigators to build a robust prosecution case which resulted in the guilty plea”.

He said the conviction “should act as a deterrent to other employers and businesses to ensure they have stringent processes in place” to ensure workers are not exposed to risks “which affect their health or safety”.