Event    From 22/9/1990  To 22/9/1990

Watney Market sewer deaths

Categories: Tragedy

Event

Initially we could find very little information about the event in which these 3 men died. From Labour Net: "Fellow worker Paul Barker (aged 20) was the only one of the four to survive the hydrogen sulphide gas in the sewer. At the court case the Magistrate had asked the company what safety equipment they had. “None” he said “not even a rope”."

John Davis sent us a page from The Daily Hazard, No. 29, December 1990 and there is additional information at Hackney Union News, November/December 1990. These sources tell the shocking story of the deaths. Residents and traders of Watney Market had complained repeatedly to Tower Hamlets Council about a smell and bad drainage. The council could find nothing so employed Floyd Construction of Hackney Road to investigate.

Four workers arrived and when they could not resolve the problem from the surface one of them entered the sewer access. When he didn’t return two more entered. And when they also did not return the fourth entered but was overcome by fumes (but it sounds like he did return). Onlookers called the fire brigade who, using breathing apparatus, retrieved the three remaining in the sewer. That was on a Saturday and by the following Monday all three had died. The fourth, Paul Barker, survived suspected hydrogen sulphide poisoning.

It seems that the workers had no protective clothing or special equipment, which suggests they were untrained and inexperienced. The Hackney Union News names the directors of the company. According to Companies House the company, Floyd Construction (London) Limited, was incorporated on 3 December 1981 and was dissolved on 24 September 2004.

Construction News reports the evidence given at the May 1991 inquest.  The East London Advertiser reporting on a commemoration in 2012: "The sewer tragedy led to protests after the east London construction company involved was fined just £50,000. At the time, the boys’ father Derek Richardson called for criminal charges. It led to the national Construction Safety Campaign which fought to get Corporate Manslaughter legislation passed in 2007."

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Watney Market sewer deaths

Commemorated ati

Watney Market sewer deaths

The plaque refers to the men being overcome by fumes while "working in this b...

Read More

Other Subjects

Joseph Copping

Joseph Copping

Construction worker killed in the fatal accident at Crystal Palace.

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial
Robert Underhill

Robert Underhill

For more information about this hero click on the picture of the distillery plaque.

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial
Cornelius Hickey

Cornelius Hickey

Role on the lost expedition: Petty officer on SS Terror. See John Franklin.

Person, Exploring, Tragedy

1 memorial
Janet Marie Cook

Janet Marie Cook

Janet Marie Cook was killed in the Moorgate tube disaster and is shown as 'COOK, JANET' on the memorial in Finsbury Square, London, EC2. Her death, aged 21 years, on 28 February 1975 was registere...

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial
Pat McDonald

Pat McDonald

Lived and worked in North Kensington, 1960s - her death.  She was the driving force behind the campaigns for better housing, more play-space and new nurseries.  At It's your Colville we were shock...

Person, Children, Community / Clubs, Tragedy

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Match tax abandoned

Match tax abandoned

I871 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Robert Lowe, proposed a tax on matches.  The Bryant and May workers, mainly girls, realised this threatened their jobs and marched in protest on the House of C...

Event, Politics & Administration

2 memorials
Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford

Actor. He first came to fame, playing Han Solo in the Star Wars films. He went on to appear as the eponymous archaeologist in the Indiana Jones films. Vice-chair of Conservation International, an o...

Person, Cinema, Seriously Famous, USA

2 memorials
Citroën House - Ford

Citroën House - Ford

W6, Shepherd's Bush Road, 184

This is the only London work that we can identify by Heathcote, a Manchester architect. e-Architect describes, with photos, Its recent re...

4 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
Arctic Campaign Memorial Trust

Arctic Campaign Memorial Trust

First registered as a UK charity in 1990. Founder and Chair R. J. Wren. Activities given: "Creates memorials on behalf of Arctic (WWII) campaign veterans which includes "living memorials"."

Group, History, Russia

1 memorial