A workman fell to his death while repairing a road bridge over the River Clyde. Mr Armour was director of roads for Strathclyde Regional Council and as such the responsibility of supervising the safety of road workers was his. He had not produced a written safety policy for such work.
Mr Armour’s defence was that he was under no personal duty to carry out the Council’s statutory duties, one of which was as described above. This was rejected on the grounds that s.37 (1) of the 1974 Act imposed the personal duty to carry out the Council’s statutory duty to prepare a written safe system of work. This he had failed to do and was therefore guilty of an offence.
