Recent HSE Construction Enforcement Activity

CRS has gathered together for the interest of our readers details of some recent HSE prosecutions and enforcement actions in the construction sector.

We have also provided links to associated sources of information under each heading for reference by our readers.
Roof work

3 November 2011 – Three roofers were spotted working on top of a Nottingham cash and carry store without any safety equipment.

Roofing contractors SPV Road Carpet Ltd were fined £14,000 with £6,659 costs.  An SPV employee was fined £480 and ordered to pay costs of £650.
Read more HERE


7 November 2011 - Two roofers have received suspended sentences after a Derbyshire office worker was injured when a roll of roofing felt crashed through the ceiling of her office.

Jason Lunt and Gregory Wright, both of Bloxwich , West Midlands, and pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They both received sentences of 18 weeks, suspended for 12 months on the condition that they complete 280 hours of community service. In addition, they were both ordered to pay £2,114 costs each. Read more HERE

11 November 2011 – A roofing contractor, Hawarden Roofing Supplies & Contractors Limited, of Flintshire, has been fined £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,500.95p after one of its employees was injured when he fell from a garage roof. Read more HERE

14 November 2011 - A member of the public reported a roofer to HSE after photographing him working on an industrial unit roof in Newark without any safety equipment.

Mr Hallwood, of Oldham, and his son, pleaded guilty to breaching section 4(1)(c) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. They were fined £2,500 each and ordered to pay costs of £2,604 between them. Read more HERE

14 November 2011 – A Carmarthenshire man has been fined after his employee was injured when he fell 5.5m through a fragile PVC skylight at a Carmarthenshire farm.

Anthony William John Daniel, trading as Towy Valley Fabrications was fined £6,500 and ordered to pay £2,651 in costs. Read more HERE



Further information

Assessing all work at height - Read more HERE

Roof work - Read more HERE
Transport on site

25 November 2011 - Three construction companies were fined after a worker helping build Arsenal’s Ashburton Grove stadium was injured so badly, his leg had to be amputated.

A dumper truck drove over the right leg of Michael O’Donovan, 41, from Bromley, while he was kneeling to clean steel ‘shuttering’ used to form reinforced structures and pillars.

Principal contractor Sir Robert McAlpine Limited was fined £19,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.

Sub-contractors McNicholas Plc (now Skanska Utilities Ltd) was fined £17,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.

Maylim Limited, sub-contracted by McNicholas Plc to undertake the work on the South Bridge area of the site, was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000. Read more HERE



Further information

Traffic management on site - Read more HERE
Asbestos

7 November 2011 – A Birmingham handyman has been prosecuted after releasing asbestos fibres while refurbishing a kitchen at a flat in Solihull. William Rogers, of Yardley, was fined £600 and ordered to pay £1,799 costs. Read more HERE



Further information

Asbestos - Read more HERE
Asbestos health and safety - Read more HERE
Asbestos surveys – Read more HERE
Gas

4 November 2011 – A Cheshire builder has been fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £3,500 in prosecution costs after a worker was badly burned in a gas explosion at Macclesfield Town's training ground. Read more HERE

4 November 2011 - An engineer called in to investigate a gas leak in an office block was nearly killed by carbon monoxide poisoning following faulty work on a boiler. Gas engineers, BR Greenwell Heating and Plumbing Services of Llantrisant, were fined £5,000 in total and ordered to pay costs of £8,000. Read more HERE

Further Information

Domestic gas health and safety - Read more HERE