On the 19 September 2019, my husband John Mackay, an employee of Nationwide Access Platforms was working away from home, as he often did, his job had taken him to Teesside to assist in the demolition of ammonia scrubbers at the former SSI Steelworks in Redcar. Around 2.15pm in the afternoon an explosion claimed the lives of my husband and his workmate, Tommy Williams who worked for John F Hunt the principal contractor, self-described on their website as Leading Specialist Contractors in Construction, Demolition and Regeneration.
We had only been married for two years and making plans to spend the rest of our lives as a couple as well as being in the process of buying our first house together.
That split second when the explosion rocked the site shattered my life and changed the lives of our wider families and took me, and his sister Magi, on a journey to secure justice for John, one where we have been continually frustrated by the Police and the Health and Safety Executive.
It took Cleveland Police four years to conclude there was insufficient evidence to pursue manslaughter charges against any company or individual.
During this period the HSE were assisting Cleveland Police with the criminal inquiry, while supposedly carrying out their own parallel investigation in preparedness for what was the eventual outcome, the HSE assuming primacy and proceeding to look at potential prosecutions for health and safety breaches.
So why, after a further two years are we no further forward in finding out what happened on that day six years ago, and we could still be some years away from getting justice for John and Tommy.
On the anniversary of John’s death I wrote to the HSE Inspector investigating the tragedy asking why the HSE has failed to meet its own performance standards, namely that in all cases relating to fatal accident investigations prosecution reports should be completed and an approval decision recorded within 12 months of the HSE assuming primacy of the case. The HSE assumed primacy in September 2023, in six weeks’ time they will have had primacy for two years and we are no further forward in knowing if any charges will be brought against either of the companies involved in John’s death.
The HSE Inspector leading the investigation tells us of numerous meetings with senior management over the years in relation to our case but cannot, or will not, tell us the outcome of these meetings and the parties involved.
We know the case has been handed to the HSE’s legal division, what the inspector will not tell us how long the HSE legal division will take to consider the case.
The inspector tells us this is a complex case but provides no details of the complexity involved and how this justifies no decision being taken on prosecution six years after John was stolen from us.
As the years go by the support provided by the HSE has dwindled, particularly noticeable since they assumed primacy of the investigation. We have been told we cannot contact anyone in the HSE unless we go through the investigating inspector.
Do we feel supported by the HSE, not anymore?
Yet only two days ago a principal inspector from the HSE was waxing lyrical to the Liverpool Echo about how important it is to the HSE that, at the centre of all of the organisation’s work, are the families of those who have died and all those affected by such a tragedy.
In the same article, the same HSE principal inspector said the HSE supports families “very strongly” whatever that is supposed to mean.
In our case we could not question the level of support we had from the HSE in the past, particularly when Cleveland Police led the investigation. However, in the last two years with the investigation becoming protracted it has come to the point we have lost patience with the organisation in the same we did with Cleveland Police when they were in control.
What do we want from the HSE, answers to the following questions,
- Why is this taking so long?
- What is so complex about this investigation or is this just a standard line the HSE uses to justify unnecessary delays?
- What resources have the HSE committed to the investigation into the deaths of my husband and Tommy Williams?
- What were the HSE doing while Cleveland Police had primacy of the investigation, what did their parallel investigation uncover?
- Do the HSE believe they have “strongly supported” our families throughout the investigation?
The words coming out of the HSE about how they appreciate our understanding of during the course, no more than platitudes to placate our family into accepting their lack of progress.
We have reached the stage where enough is enough and now plan take out fight for justice to the UK Government and hopefully put pressure on the HSE to move our case forward.
Scottish Hazards has supported us from the very early says and have submitted a Freedom of Information Request asking questions about the HSE Legal Division, how they are resourced, how many cases they deal with annually and how long they take on average to reach a decision on prosecution.
Anna Turley MP for Redcar has committed to supporting our fight in any way we can, and we will be asking her assistance in taking our case to Westminster.
Life is precious, although it appears John’s was not, John’s parents have both died since the tragedy without seeing justice for their son. I have had a life-threatening condition but thankfully recovered.
Lack of action by the HSE, and the delay in deciding if there will be charges is impacting on our day to day lives, we are aware the Court system in England and Wales is subject to massive backlogs but we remain in the dark if or when John’s case will even enter the system.
Enough is enough, justice delayed is justice denied, and I want justice for my husband and his colleague.
There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice but there must NEVER be a time when we fail to protest.
Ann Lynch Mackay
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