Three men have been fined a total of €26,000 over the death of a 19-year-old worker on a construction site in 2016

Two of them were found guilty of involuntarily causing his death while the third was convicted of health and safety breaches. 

George Cassar, 61, from Qormi, Joseph Grech, 60, from Pietà and Anthony Sammut, 71, from Sliema faced criminal charges over the death of Samuel Camilleri while he was working on a construction project in Pietà.

The 19-year-old from Żebbuġ died at Mater Dei Hospital shortly after falling a height of three storeys while working at a construction site in Our Lady of Sorrows Street, Pietà on 23 February 2016.

The accident occurred at around 4.30pm when the youth fell from the roof while preparing wooden shuttering before applying concrete. He fell into an internal yard.

According to court experts, Camilleri suffered serious head injuries that had caused his death.

Magistrate Leonard Caruana heard how Camilleri was working on the site with his boss, Cassar, who was the contractor engaged to construct the block of apartments overlying a garage complex. 

Camilleri had only been working for Cassar for three months when the accident happened. 

Cassar faced a long list of charges related to breaches of health and safety regulations. He was also charged with relapsing.

Grech and Sammut were also charged with breaches of health and safety regulations. Grech was the project supervisor despite not having any experience in the field. Both were not on site when the incident happened. 

Although Grech told the court that he had attended a course organised by the Occupational Health and Safety Authority, he failed to provide the court with any documentation to prove this, claiming that he had thrown them away.

No hard hats or safety harnesses

Grech was the owner of the plot while Sammut was financing half the project. Both were also accused of failing to fulfil their duties as clients. They failed to draw up a health and safety plan while Grech alone failed to follow basic health and safety procedures. 

Magistrate Caruana noted how none of the court experts had indicated the presence of health and safety equipment on site such as hard hats, safety harnesses or high visibility jackets. 

The court also referred to the report compiled by a court expert, architect Charles Farrugia, who explained how there was a pool of blood in the yard close to some wooden boards usually used for shuttering. He also noted how the shuttering on the roof had missing pieces, indicating that these had fallen when Camilleri had fallen from the roof.

The expert noted that the planks were used to form a balcony and how these protruded outwards without any support, making them dangerous. Whoever was working on the project had to be extra careful because the slightest mistake could throw the person over along with the wood.

In his ruling, Magistrate Caruana said that as the contractor, Cassar had the biggest responsibility for what happened, noting also that he was not even near Camilleri at the time of the accident but was on the other side of the building. This was a grave mistake especially since he knew that Camilleri had no experience and was regularly on his mobile. 

Grech told the court that he had drawn Camilleri’s attention twice on the day of the incident, once because he was on his mobile while walking over the shuttering. 

However, the court found no contributory negligence by the victim given that his mobile, which the defence was using as an argument to show contributory negligence on his part, was found in his back pocket after the fall. This indicated that Camilleri was not on his mobile at the time of the fall, as was being claimed.

The court found that Grech and Sammut had failed to adopt proper health and safety standards, finding them guilty of some of the charges brought against them. 

The magistrate found Cassar guilty of involuntary homicide and breaching several health and safety regulations.  The court said an effective prison term was not ideal in the circumstances so he was fined €10,000.

Grech was also convicted of involuntarily causing Camilleri's death and several health and safety breaches. He was fined €9,000.

Sammut was only convicted of health and safety breaches and was fined €7,000.

The three were also ordered to pay just over €2,000 in court expenses.

Police Inspector Robert Vella prosecuted.