Family will 'never get over' Cambridgeshire building site death
James Rourke died in November 2019
The aunt of a man who died while working on a building site in Cambridgeshire has said his family will never be able to move on from losing him.
James Rourke died when an excavator, whose driver hadn't seen him, hit and killed the 22-year-old in Brampton in November 2019.
James, who was unsupervised at the time of his death, was working on the site run by Cala Homes for the first time.
Six months ago today, Material Movements Limited (MML), the firm which employed James, were fined ÂŁ133,300 at Peterborough Magistrates' Court after contravening a health and safety regulation.
"We'll never get over losing James"
Karen Rourke, James' aunt, believes his death was preventable.
"I think it brought closure in the sense proceedings had finished, but we'll never get over losing James in the circumstances that we did; it was absolutely horrific and it should never have happened," she said.
"Nothing will bring James back, but the company's responsible for the deaths of two people; they're still trading, still living their lives and they've left a devastated family behind."
James' death was the second time MML have been convicted for a fatality of this kind.
In February, Carly Hughes - a health and safety professional working in construction - told Greatest Hits Radio that James' case showed "a lack of monitoring and supervision on construction activities and there is definitely room for improvement in these areas."
A Health and Safety Executive investigation found MML had "failed to supervise the work that James and the excavator driver were undertaking to ensure it was safe."
The HSE also said the firm "failed to ensure the work was planned and managed to eliminate any chance of James working near the excavator."
Improved safety measures needed
Karen believes better safety measures must be imposed by construction firms.
"Health and safety rules and regulations are there for a reason and they need to be implemented properly," she added.
"Anything that should be done, should be done, so staff should be supervised, risk assessments should be done properly.
"Follow the rules and regulations and any improvements that should be made; I can't even say to get justice because I don't think justice was done."
MML and Cala Homes have been contacted for comment.