HSE enforcement activity, Construction sector, October 2012

Read details of some recent HSE prosecutions and enforcement action in the construction sector and find sources of relevant advice. 

Collapse 

5 October 2012 – A Welsh builder has been sentenced to two years in prison after being convicted of gross negligence manslaughter in the case of a three-year-old girl who was killed when a substandard wall collapsed on top of her. 

Further information

Construction Safety Topic – Structural Stability  

 

Work at height 

3 October 2012 - A Lincolnshire farming business has been fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £14,995 after a building contractor was left paralysed when he fell through a barn roof when replacing damaged roof panels and skylights. 

4 October 2012 - A building contractor has been ordered to pay a total of £548,000 after a worker fell through a roof while working on the construction of the Menai Centre in Bangor, Wales.   

17 October 2012 - A Knightsbridge facilities and cleaning company has been fined £4000 and ordered to pay £3700.30 in costs after one of its employees fell six metres through a riding school roof. The worker received £1,000 in compensation.  

22 October 2012 - A Somerset construction company has been fined £5000 and ordered to pay £8000 in costs after a worker plummeted six metres through a fragile skylight.  

22 October 2012 – A Cwmbran builder has been fined £8,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £2,945.30 after an employee was seriously injured in a 2.3-metre fall from the roof of a property near Llandegfedd Reservoir. 

24 October 2012 - A Dartford Scaffolding firm was fined £10,000 with £1,000 costs and its director fined £15,000 with £2,000 costs for failing to provide a safe way of working on a fragile roof after a worker fell and suffered serious injuries.  

Further information

Construction Safety Topic - Assessing all work at height

Construction Safety Topic - Roofwork

Construction Safety Topic – Fragile surfaces 

 

Excavations  

3 October 2012 – A Cornish firm was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £3,793 in costs after a member of the public sustained spinal injuries and a fractured skull after he plunged 15 feet into an open excavation that had been left unprotected by workers.  

3 October 2012 – A Nottinghamshire demolition company and one of its employees have appeared in court after a worker suffered severe injuries when he was hit by a falling excavator bucket on his first day on site. The excavator driver was sentenced to 250 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay a £200 contribution towards costs. The case against the company has been committed to Crown Court for sentencing at a later date.  

15 October 2012 - An excavator driver has been prosecuted for safety failings after an unsecure bucket fell from the machine he was using and badly injured a worker on a Gloucester building site. The driver was fined £500 and ordered to pay £1,746 in costs. He was also ordered to pay £3,500 in compensation to the worker. 

Further information

Construction Safety Topic - Excavations

Construction Safety Topic - Excavators

Construction Safety Topic – Quick Hitches

Construction Safety Topic – Semi-automatic quick hitches 

 

Asbestos 

8 October 2012 - A Wokingham business has been fined £28,000 and ordered to pay £22,631 in costs for safety failings after two subcontractors were unwittingly exposed to asbestos fibres at Reading University.

Further information

Construction Health Topic - Asbestos

Asbestos health and safety 

 

Unloading materials 

12 October 2012 – A delivery driver was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £1,000 in costs after a worker unloading scaffold materials from a flatbed lorry was thrown from the vehicle and hit by its load of boards and tubes when it overturned. 

Further information

Unloading a vehicle