Bristol engineer died while repairing motorway CCTV camera
Cecil Grant told his family he had not been warned of the drop when he began working to replace a CCTV camera on the edge of the northbound carriageway on Tickenham Hill in darkness in 2006.
An inquest at Flax Bourton has heard how the 42-year-old, who lived in Southmead, suffered a back injury in the fall which led to his death in hospital 10 days later.
Yesterday, the jury heard statements made by friends and family describing what father-of-two Mr Grant told them about the accident from his hospital bed shortly after the fall.
His partner of 13 years, Karen Sealey, said: "He said he was standing on the base of the camera post and he could see some bushes. He said he tried to get to the other side of the camera and fell back.
"He wouldn't have knowingly put himself at risk if he had known about the danger."
Andrea Grant, Mr Grant's sister, said her brother told him he had stepped back off a ledge and had not been aware of the huge drop on the split level section of motorway.
On Monday, the inquest was told that Mr Grant had not used a safety harness because he had not been told about the steep drop by his employer Serco, a subcontractor responsible for a temporary CCTV system in operation during roadworks between Junction 19 (Portishead) and 20 (Clevedon).
The jury also heard the motorway was not properly lit while Mr Grant and his colleague Peter Wilson were working to replace the faulty camera at 10pm on January 24 and there were no warning signs about the embankment in place.
The inquest was told on Monday that Mr Grant and Mr Wilson had climbed over a large crash barrier a few feet away from the embankment to access the base of the CCTV camera post.
Martin Lynch, a civil engineer at the Highways Agency, said the large crash barriers were used in "high risk" locations and were "an unusual feature on the highway alerting people to a danger beyond it".
But Mr Wilson, who has worked on motorways as an engineer for 21 years, said he did not view the barrier as being "indicative of a danger zone".
In their statements at the inquest, relatives described Mr Grant as having a "cheerful" and "chatty" personality.
Ms Sealey said his death had devastated their family.
She said: "His children were his life and he would do anything for them. It (Mr Grant's death) had a huge impact on all three of us. Two children have lost a father they were very close to."
The inquest continues.
