Birmingham wall collapse deaths: 'Wind could have toppled wall'

The workers clockwise from top left: Mahamadou Jagana, Almamo Jammeh, Saibo Sillah, Bangally Dukureh and Ousmane Diaby died in 2016

A wall that collapsed on five men at a recycling plant was so close to falling, a gust of wind would have been enough to bring it down, a court heard.

Almamo Jammeh, Ousmane Diaby, Bangally Dukureh, Saibo Sillah and Mahamadou Jagana died immediately at Shredmet's premises in Birmingham on 7 July 2016.

Prosecutors said the 45-tonne wall was pushed over by stored metal which had the weight of six fully-laden lorries.

Two directors and two recycling firms deny health and safety offences.

Wayne Hawkeswood and Graham Woodhouse along with Ensco 10101, formerly Shredmet, and its predecessor, Hawkeswood Metal Recycling, are being prosecuted at Birmingham Crown Court by the Health and Safety Executive.

The killed men - four from the Gambia and one from Senegal - had been clearing waste from a storage area in advance of the arrival of scrapped aero engines.

Jurors heard the adjacent bay held 263 tonnes of can-shaped metal briquettes and, 15 minutes after the agency workers began their task, the wall collapsed into their own bay.

Their bodies were recovered several days later.

The bodies of the men were recovered several days after the wall collapsed in July 2016

Opening the case on Friday, prosecutor Pascal Bates said an expert who assessed the site believed rain falling on the briquettes or a gust of wind could have prompted the collapse.

"The prosecution say that whatever straw broke the camel's back is neither here nor there," he added.

"The wall was decidedly unsafe in its state and no one should have been working anywhere near it."

A sixth worker suffered a broken leg, another escaped injury after stepping outside the bay and a supervisor in a mini-digger suffered cuts and bruises.

The prosecution said some workers were asked to sign induction forms despite being unable to read or speak English, with only minimal training provided.

Mr Bates told the court a total of £3,260 was spent on training staff between 2007 and 2019 while the firm was turning over tens of millions of pounds.

There were up to 50 people on site every day "operating in an industry that can't be described as low risk", he said.

Five of the eight men involved had been trained in 2013, with three not having received the external training, Mr Bates told the court.

Wayne Hawkeswood (right) and Graham Woodhouse (centre) deny health and safety breaches

Ensco 10101 has denied failing to discharge a duty to a person other than an employee in July 2016 and failing to ensure the health and safety of its employees.

Hawkeswood Metal Recycling has pleaded not guilty to a charge alleging it failed in its duty to those not in its employment and a second count relating to the safety of employees.

Mr Hawkeswood, 52, the managing director and Mr Woodhouse, 55, the site operations manager and a director, both of Riverside Works, Trevor Street, Nechells, each pleaded not guilty to four charges under the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act.

The court heard Mr Woodhouse was working on 7 July 2016 while Mr Hawkeswood, who owned both companies, was on the first day of a holiday abroad.

The trial, which is expected to last eight weeks, continues.