Hinkley Point C prosecutions: CDM and safety lessons for project engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Trial dates have been set at Bristol Crown Court for two Office for Nuclear Regulation prosecutions over incidents at the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station site, including the November 2022 death of worker Jason Waring and an August 2022 rebar mesh wall collapse that seriously injured slinger Paul Dunne in a prefabrication yard. NNB Generation Company (HPC), Bouygues Travaux Publics and Laing O’Rourke Delivery all plead not guilty to breaches of CDM 2015 Regulations 13(1) and 15(2). A separate case adds alleged failures under Regulation 3(1)(a) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, with trials scheduled for October 2027 and January 2028, each listed for four to six weeks.
Technical Brief
- Failure mechanism in August 2022 involved a rebar mesh wall overturning from a vertical jig during handling.
- Incident occurred in a prefabrication yard while the injured slinger was detaching the mesh wall for transfer.
- ONR prosecutions centre on alleged failures to plan, manage and monitor construction work under CDM 2015 Reg 15(2).
- For the fatal November 2022 event, ONR alleges breach of CDM 2015 Reg 13(1) on construction phase management and co-ordination.
- Additional charge cites inadequate risk assessment under Management of Health and Safety at Work Regs 1999 Reg 3(1)(a), linked to Section 33(1)(c) offences.
- Monitoring and remediation on comparable sites would typically focus on lifting plans, jig stability, exclusion zones and supervision during rebar handling.
Our Take
Within the 425 safety- and failure-tagged pieces in our database, very few involve the Office for Nuclear Regulation taking prosecutions on a live megaproject of Hinkley Point C’s scale, signalling that outcomes here will be closely watched as a benchmark for nuclear civils oversight in the UK.
The focus on Regulation 13 and 15 duties under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 at the Hinkley Point C site is likely to sharpen how principal contractors such as Bouygues Travaux Publics and Laing O’Rourke structure design–construction interfaces and supervision on other complex UK infrastructure schemes.
With trial dates at Bristol Crown Court stretching into 2027–2028, project teams across major UK infrastructure builds in Somerset and beyond can expect a prolonged period where ONR’s interpretation of CDM and Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 will influence internal audits, method statement approvals and subcontractor management frameworks.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
