Welcome to the latest edition of Construction infonet.
Construction infonet is a free eBulletin from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to provide a regular update on health and safety issues for all in the construction industry.
Simple mistakes can shatter lives. Your actions could stop them happening.
You might think you’re doing everything you can to prevent trips and falls at height on your site, but everyone could do a lot more.
Visit the Shattered Lives campaign web pages to read case studies, download posters and work through the toolkits.
HSE has issued a formal Safety Bulletin after six people have been killed in the last five years due to being struck by falling stone slabs of this type during storage and handling operations.
Handling and storing large sheet stone slabs carries a high risk of serious personal injury unless undertaken in a safe manner. Due to their size and configuration, such slabs are potentially unstable when stored on edge.
Employers, the self-employed and any person engaged in the handling of stone slab should review their arrangements to ensure safe systems of work are in place and supervised.
Updated guidance is now available to help those responsible for managing the risks from asbestos best protect those workers who may disturb it.
‘Asbestos: The survey guide’ is aimed at those who commission asbestos surveys, the surveyors who carry them out and those who use them such as architects and demolition or removal contractors.
Read details of some recent HSE prosecutions and enforcement action in the construction sector and find sources of relevant advice.
DC Kennedy Homes Ltd was prosecuted by HSE after Ian Smith, 64, was killed when he fell from an unstable ladder.
HSE’s investigation found that DC Kennedy Homes had allowed work to be carried out on the first and second floors of the house, before the stairs had been fitted. The ladder, which was used to reach the second floor, had not been secured and was missing its rubber feet.
8 February 2010 – HSE successfully prosecuted Charles Painting (UK) Ltd of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, after a worker fell seven-metre causing life-changing injuries.
The fall happened while the employee was preparing to clean roof lights. He was pulling water pipes across the roof in preparation to clean, when he fell seven metres through a roof light onto the workshop floor.
The HSE investigation found that there were no working platforms, guardrails, scaffold or sufficient means of protection provided on the roof or underneath to prevent the fall.
The company was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £1,000 costs.
HQ Leisure Limited, of, Bradford, pleaded guilty to six charges, one breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, two breaches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and three breaches of the Work at height Regulations 2005.
HSE inspectors found a number of safety problems that could have caused a serious injury or fatality at a site on Albion Street, Hull, in October 2007, where a row of four-storey terrace buildings was being converted into 28 apartments.
The problems included:
Rafał Przestrzelski was told to remove a number of steel (Acrow) props supporting a slab of concrete, during the demolition of Telstar House in Paddington, London. Originally there were 13 props, but as each one was removed the load increased on the remainder until the final one was carrying the entire load. When the props were removed, the concrete slab fell to the ground and an overloaded prop struck Mr Przestrzelski causing fatal internal injuries.
The subsequent investigation, carried out jointly by the Metropolitan Police and HSE found that the method of work on the original plan had been departed from, that there was no revised method-statement and consequential risk assessment.
John F Hunt Demolition Ltd of Grays, Essex pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act etc. 1974. The company was fined £85,000 and ordered to pay £25,000 in costs.
Bayoak Demo Ltd, of Barking, London, also pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act etc. 1974.The company was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £8,000 in costs.
Shepherd Construction Limited of York pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 for its role in the incident at the Trinity Square construction site in central Nottingham.
The court heard how on 30 August 2007 a contractor on the site drove a cherry picker over a concealed man hole cover. The cover gave way under the weight of the machine and the cherry picker toppled over, leaving its driver with serious injuries to his skull, back and legs.
HSE prosecuted Carillion JM Ltd following the incident in Rochdale on 11 November 2008. A Ford Transit truck was reversing on the construction site when it hit Michael Gresty.
Mr Gresty was helping to build a new track around a large pond at the business park when he was run over by the truck. The 56-year-old is unlikely to ever return to work due to the extent of his injuries.
The court heard that no one was responsible for guiding the truck, which was regularly reversing up to 400 metres to drop off construction materials for the project. A pedestrian walkway to separate vehicles from pedestrians had also not been marked on the track.
Sheffield-based contractor JF Finnegan pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £17,500 and ordered to pay £2,126 costs.
Saxby Surfacing Contractors Ltd, from Sheffield, were sub-contracted by JF Finnegan. The company pleaded guilty to contravening regulation 34(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £708 costs.
Both companies were involved in building a private road in Doncaster. During the work, a tipper wagon, which was in its raised position, touched a high voltage overhead cable. The 66,000 volt shock passed through the wagon, resulting in severe damage to the pneumatics and the hydraulics. The court heard this was the third similar incident at the site, yet HSE inspectors found a lack of suitable signage warning of overhead danger or height restricting posts in operation.
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