Builder's failures led to site death in Chilworth, court hears

The body of Kulwant Singh Athwal was discovered on the site of a house undergoing building work in Chilworth

A contractor's "exceptionally bad" failure to protect workers on a building site led to one of his employees being crushed to death by falling masonry, a court has heard.

Paramjit Singh, 48, was using a digger to remove a garage wall outside a house in Chilworth, Hampshire, moments before Kulwant Singh Athwal, 64, was killed, Winchester Crown Court was told.

The incident happened on 16 July 2019.

Singh, from Southampton, denies manslaughter by gross negligence.

He has previously pleaded guilty to two offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

Paramjit Singh is on trial for manslaughter by gross negligence following the incident in July 2019

Shauna Ritchie, prosecuting, said the defendant was hired to clear rubble and demolish the garage from the property in Ling Dale.

Singh, who employed four men on the site, had been using a mini-excavator on the last remaining wall of the garage moments before it collapsed on to Mr Singh Athwal, Ms Ritchie said.

"The precise mechanism of the collapse of that wall is not known," the barrister added.

"What is known is that falling mechanism struck Kulwant Singh Athwal and caused him the catastrophic crush injuries that caused his death."

'Grossly negligent'

The section of the wall that had fallen weighed 167kg (307lbs), the court heard.

Ms Ritchie told jurors that Mr Singh did not fence off the dangerous area, put up warning signs or carry out a survey of the building prior to the demolition.

"Paramjit Singh appreciated the dangers of the work he was undertaking and he took none of these steps," she said.

"It's the prosecution case he was grossly negligent, his negligence was truly exceptionally bad, that it was criminal and he was therefore guilty of the manslaughter of Kulwant Singh Athwal."

The trial continues.