A CONSTRUCTION company admitted failing to keep staff safe after a man died on a building site in Colchester.

David Holloway, 35, of Roberts Road, Colchester, was crushed by a cage which fell from a crane at the student accommodation site at King Edward Quay, The Hythe.

Following his death the Health and Safety Executive launched an investigation into practices at the site and yesterday, more than two years after his death, Urban Summit Construction Ltd admitted mistakes were made.

The company, via a representative, pleaded guilty to a regulation eight breach of The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998.

The regulations stipulate lifting of objects must be planned competently, properly supervised and conducted in a safe manner.

The company admitted, between November 11, 2013 and January 9, 2014, this did not happen.

The volunteer youth rugby coach died on January 8.

A representative, for the Cambridge based company, told Judge Charles Gratwicke, at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday, the breach had been admitted primarily because the moving of cages was not carried out in a safe manner.

Mr Holloway, who had moved to Colchester from New Zealand and lived with his fiancée, had been working at the £35million 765 bed development site for two days.

He was working alongside a crane driver securing two cages at a time with four chains.

Four cages had already been moved that morning but, as the final two were being lifted, one fell, despite test lifts, and landed on him.

Essex Police launched and then closed its investigation.

An inquest, held last May, concluded Mr Holloway died as a result of an accident, the only verdict the coroner left available for the jury to reach.

However the HSE issued an immediate prohibition notice on the day of his death against Urban Summit Construction Ltd.

The notice stated: “Work on lifting operation prohibited because of failure to demonstrate a safe system of work to prevent persons being injured as a result of the load falling.”

And it brought the successful prosecution.

The company will be sentenced on May 27 at Chelmsford Crown Court.

The HSE declined to comment until sentencing is completed.

The Gazette attempted to contact the contractors for comments but none were received.

No indication of the likely sentence was given, but in a separate case in Essex when a man died from a falling item after a building firm breached the regulations costs and fines totalled £250,000.