Tree surgeon fined for health and safety breach that led to father of four's death

A tree surgeon was today fined £27,500 for a health and safety breach arising from the death of his employee.

Rodney Shirley lost his life whilst working in the Hillsborough area in September 2021. From North Belfast, the father-of-four was employed by Christopher Auld and was working in a cherry picker in a garden in Hillsborough when he was electrocuted.

Auld, from Strangford Road in Lisburn, admitted a charge of failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare of his employees. A charge of manslaughter was 'left on the books' earlier this year.

During today's sentence hearing, the court heard that the defendant's company - Chris Auld Tree Services - was tasked to cut hedges.

Auld and two employees arrived at the job at around 8.15am on September 30, 2021. The hedges that needed to be cut ran the length of the garden and present were overhead power lines which carried 11,000 volts of electricity.

Auld - who visited the site prior to the job - ordered a cherry picker which arrived at around 9.30am. He then instructed Mr Shirley to go up in the cherry picker with hedge trimmers and told him that the power lines were live.

Work was then carried out and after a coffee break, Mr Shirley got back into the cherry picker whilst the other employee remained on the ground.

A short time after this, the second employee looked up and saw Mr Shirley was slumped within the basket of the cherry picker and the hedge trimmer was propped up against it. He shouted for Auld and when the cherry picker was lowered, they got Mr Shirley out and placed him on the ground.

CPR was administered at the scene, the emergency services were called and Mr Shirley was rushed to the Royal Victoria Hospital. Despite medical assistance, he was pronounced dead at around 1.30pm.

Judge Gilpin said that whilst no-one saw what happened to Mr Shirley, he was electrocuted - which was confirmed by the state pathologist.

A joint investigation involving the PSNI, the Health and Safety Executive and NIE Networks was launched and when Auld interviewed by both the HSE and the PSNI, he co-operated and answered all questions.

He expressed how sorry he was and said he believed he had taken all the necessary steps to ensure the safety of his employees. Crown barrister Geraldine McCullough KC said Auld has failed, when he visited the site before the work began, to undertake a proper risk assessment.

She said that if he had, then "this situation would have been avoided." Ms McCullough said that on previous occasions Auld had contacted NIE to get them to isolate the power lines when he had carried out similar work - but on this occasion he failed to do this.

The Crown barrister also revealed that in February 2020, Auld was given a warning by the HSE when a live overhead power line was struck whilst his company was cutting back trees in a garden.

On this occasion, no-one was injured and following this incident, Auld told HSE that he would contact NIE to isolate power lines in the future.

Defence barrister Frank O'Donoghue KC said his client would carry what happened to a man he considered a friend as well as an employee "for the rest of his life" and was sincerely remorseful.

Mr O'Donoghue described what happened as "an error of judgement" on his client's behalf which had "catastrophic consequences."

The barrister also revealed that since the fatal incident, Auld has increased and enhanced all health and safety measures for his employees.

Judge Gilpin said he had read statements written by Mr Shirley's widow, daughter, mother, sister and brother - all of which spoke of their acute loss.

Mr Shirley's widow described him as "the best husband and an amazing father" and outlined the pain of knowing that their youngest child, who was ten months old at the time, will never know her father.

His teenage daughter detailed much she misses her Dad and how she thinks about him every day. Mr Shirley's mother set out her struggle in coming to terms with her son's death and how she sits and talks to him at his graveside.

His siblings also compiled statements which recalled their childhood, their brother's "biggest smile" and the impact his death has had on them.

Judge Gilpin said he had taken into consideration Auld's clear criminal record, his solid work history and the steps he had taken to enhance health and safety measures.

He imposed the fine and gave Auld 13 weeks to pay it.

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