Tahnie Martin inquest: Roof 'not checked for years before tragedy'

Tahnie Martin, from Stafford, died in Wolverhampton’s Dudley Street in February after being hit by a flying wooden panel.

The inquest in Oldbury was told no one had accessed the plant room roof on the city centre's Black Rock building, next to the entrance to the Mander Centre, for six years. The plant room itself had been out of use for around 20 years, according to an official.

And when an environmental health boss went up after the death she found woodwork that crumbled in her hands.

Linda Fletcher, senior environmental officer at Wolverhampton council, told the hearing: “On May 16 this year my colleagues and I visited the roof to remove the fixings. These came off easily in our hands. All showed signs of rotten wood and some of them crumbled to the touch. The first one I removed on the Dudley Street side. Some of this crumbled to a powder-like consistency.”

Miss Fletcher said she was told by Phil Dutton, operations manager for the Mander centre employed by Cushman & Wakefield, on March 7 this year that he had not issued a 'permit to work', allowing access to the plant room of the building on Dudley Street in six years.

According to the Health and Safety Executive a permit to work systems ‘controls work such as maintenance activities on buildings to prevent a major accident’.

University of Wolverhampton worker Ms Martin, 29, was fatally struck by a wooden panel that covered a redundant water tank on the roof of the plant room building on February 23 this year. The court heard how, during Storm Doris, the wood panel had dislodged from its position and split into two.

Both parts were ‘moved a considerable distance’ by the wind, according to Miss Fletcher. One part was found on the roof of the O2 phone shop whilst the other fell down by the Starbucks on Dudley Street, hitting Ms Martin. The court heard how the fixings attaching the complete wood panel that was split in two in the storm were ‘crumbling’ and ‘rotten.’

Ms Fletcher said in court: "On March 7 2017 at 11.05am I visited the Mander Centre and met up with Phil Dutton.

"I explained as part of the investigation I needed to know about their permits to work system to access the roof and what works had been done on the roof.

"He told me none had been issued during his time there and he had been there six years."

Later, Mr Dutton attended the Civic Centre to deliver documents dated from 2011 to 2016 in relation to the maintenance of the building.

A further council report showed that on the day of Ms Martin's death, 88 adults, 10 small children, two pushchairs and three teenagers were in the area of Dudley Street just five minutes before Miss Martin was struck.

Mr Dutton said at the inquest: "The plant room had not been used for probably 20 odd years."

The inquest continues.