Summary of recent HSE construction enforcement actions (September 2011)

CRS is pleased to provide a summary of some recent HSE prosecutions and enforcement action in the construction sector.

Work at Height
3 August 2011 – A mechanical engineering company has been fined after a subcontractor suffered serious back injuries falling through a roof.
Self-employed roofer Michael Hawkins, 23, of Rotherham, fell approximately six metres through a fragile roof at a large industrial building. He underwent six operations in just six months including a large skin graft to his back and has been unable to return to work since the incident in June 2009.

The company had failed to ensure the work was properly planned, appropriately supervised or carried out in a safe manner. The HSE investigation found part of the roof was only single thickness and therefore considerably weaker in some areas than others, yet the company failed to identify how fragile it was.

Mechanical Solutions Ltd, of Mansfield pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £5,366. Read more here

11 August 2011 - A Burnley handyman had a lucky escape when he fell through a fragile roof at a factory.

The 67-year-old contractor was fixing a leak on the roof when he lost his balance, stepped backwards and fell through one of the roof panels. He escaped injury after landing on a machine cover more than four metres below.

Engineering firm Lupton and Place admitted breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of workers. The company was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay £6,250 in prosecution costs. Read more here

16 August 2011 - A roofing firm has been prosecuted after it allowed two of its employees to work on a slippery roof in Wirral without anything in place to stop them falling.

The two workers from Rainsafe Protect Ltd were spotted pressure washing the sloping house roof in Bebington during a routine visit by an HSE inspector on 26 March 2010. No safety barriers or scaffolding had been put up around the edge of the roof to stop the employees being seriously injured in a fall.

The court was told that the company had received advice about working at height from HSE on four separate occasions during the previous month, but had still allowed the roof to be recoated without safety measures in place.

Rainsafe Protect Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £2,069 in prosecution costs. Read more here

25 August 2011 - A self-employed roofing contractor from Essex has been given a suspended prison sentence after an incident in which a friend fell through the roof of a domestic garage - and later died of his injuries.

Steve Mason had been contracted to replace a flat roof on a double garage at a house in Stock, near Chelmsford, and James Waughman was accompanying him. While on site Mr Waughman, 58 suffered a stroke and fell through a gap in the rafters on to the garage floor, suffering multiple injuries. He died in hospital just over three weeks after the incident.

Steve Mason received an eight month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, and was ordered to pay £500 costs after admitting breaching section 3 (2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Read more here

9 August 2011 – Two Worcestershire companies and a contractor from Hall Green have been prosecuted for releasing asbestos fibres during an office refurbishment project in Birmingham city centre.

HSE Inspectors uncovered a series of failings during the refurbishment work carried out by Evanacre Colmore Row Ltd, Marchment Consulting Ltd and Roland Morewood.

When lift engineers arrived on site, they found pieces of asbestos insulating board spread around the lift shaft area and refused to carry on working. HSE inspectors stopped all workers from going into the building until it had been decontaminated. Air tests taken on several floors of the premises revealed significantly high levels of asbestos fibres, which were also found in several vacuum cleaners.

Asbestos insulating board was found stored in Roland Morewood's van, which itself was heavily contaminated with raised levels of asbestos fibres in the air.

Evanacre Colmore Row Ltd, of Droitwich, pleaded guilty today to breaching Regulations 11(1)(a) and 16 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 and was fined £7,000 and ordered to pay £1,500 costs.

Marchment Consulting Ltd, of Droitwich, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 11(1)(a) and 16 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 and was fined £7,000 and ordered to pay £1,500 costs.

Roland Morewood, of Hall Green, Birmingham, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 8(1) and 16 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 and fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £823 costs. Read more here

Demolition

30 August 2011 – Whiteinch Demolition Limited, a Glasgow demolition contractor has been fined after a worker was killed when a weight from a face shovel machine fell on him.

On 12 May 2008 Bernard McCarroll, aged 68 years from Croy, was dismantling a hydraulic excavator at the company's yard in Glasgow by the process known as burning, using a flame torch. The machine weighed seven tonnes (7080 kilogrammes) and had a weight at the rear to assist stability. Whilst flame cutting the bolts that held this weight to the frame of the machine, part of it fell onto Mr McCarroll who suffered serious injuries and died.

An HSE investigation found the dismantling operation had not been properly risk assessed or planned by the company. The court was told that a safe system of work had not been provided to those carrying out the dismantling task. It was also found that insufficient information and instruction had been made available by the company with regard to the assembly of this large machine.

Whiteinch Demolition Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974. It was fined £15,000. Read more here

Management of construction sites
30 August 2011 - Two construction companies have been fined for "appalling" standards at a building site in the London Borough of Merton.

HSE prosecuted principal contractor, Kubik Homes Ltd, and the subcontractor, Bellway Developments Ltd after visiting the site in Wimbledon on several occasions. Kubik Homes Ltd had already been served with four Prohibition Notices, one of which was actually breached while HSE Inspectors were on site.

There was no safe access to the first floor under construction - instead, there was a makeshift 'staircase' formed from a bag of sand and piles of blocks, leading to the roof of a hut.

The first floor was accessed from the hut roof via wooden planks, spanning the gap between them. There was no edge protection to prevent falls.

There was also a 2.5 metre-deep excavation with no precautions taken to prevent people falling into it or the sides of the excavation collapsing in on anyone working within it.

The work areas around the site were uneven, littered with obstructions and trip hazards. Building materials had been stacked excessively high and stored haphazardly. Welfare facilities on-site were also extremely poor. The toilet was filthy and had a leaking cold water supply.
Kubik Homes Ltd, of Wimbledon, pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety etc at Work Act 1974. The firm was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,426.50.

Bellway Developments Ltd, of Bromley, Kent, also pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Act 1974. It was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,384.50. Read more here