Asbestos

A developer purchased a block of flats for refurbishment into luxury apartments. The building, dating from the 1960s, contained asbestos in all the bathroom ceilings and in the lift shaft. He did not arrange for an asbestos survey. He took on the role of principal contractor and recruited workers to make up a demolition crew for the "soft-strip" of the building. They thought this included the bathroom walls and false ceilings and were unaware of the dangers from asbestos, did not recognize it, and made no attempt to control the dust or clean-up. This meant the whole building became heavily contaminated with asbestos dust. The Health and Safety Executive discovered this during a routine inspection and stopped the job.

The developer had to employ a specialist company to carry out an asbestos survey and clean-up, and then a separate contractor to remove and dispose of the asbestos properly. After the site was closed for 2 months, the survey then took 3 days and cost the developer £50,000. The clean-up and asbestos removal then took over 3 months and cost a further £120,000.

He had not planned for any means of escape in case of fire during refurbishment. Because the building was contaminated with asbestos he had to pay for scaffolding around the building to provide secondary means of escape. This cost an extra £100,000.

He was later prosecuted for failing to prevent the spread of asbestos fibres and inadequate fire precautions and fined £150,000 plus £34,000 costs. The job was stopped for nearly 12 months.

His failure to arrange for an asbestos survey and proper safe removal of the asbestos cost him the equivalent of giving away two of the apartments. But of greatest importance is that people were needlessly exposed to asbestos

If at the planning stage he had arranged for a type 3 asbestos survey it would have saved him considerable time and money. Even if the survey revealed that asbestos was present, the safe removal would have taken no more than four weeks and cost in the region of £70,000 for ALL of the flats.

For more information, see our 'Asbestos: The hidden killer' site.

Falls from height

A couple, who had little experience of the construction industry, bought a former bakery to convert into a bistro business, at a projected cost of £77k. They appointed a building contractor who had been recommended by their architect. They had not known the contractor before but gave him £40k up front.

The contractor failed to plan the work to make sure the workplace was safe. For example his workers were not provided with equipment to work safely from height, were not trained and were not given other important safety equipment. Three weeks into what was supposed to have been a 12-week job, one of the contractor's workers fell through an unprotected skylight opening, and was killed.

The couple fired the contractor and their project was seriously delayed, costing them valuable time and money as they were unable to trade during this period. They had to appoint another firm to complete the job.

As a result of this accident, a man lost his life. The contractor was sent to prison for manslaughter.

For more information, see our 'Falls from height' pages.

Public Safety

A property developer had bought a row of houses and was refurbishing them himself. He was working an excavator when the bucket unintentionally hit a wall. The wall collapsed onto his neighbour, who had just stepped into the alleyway between the houses, and killed him.

The accident had a severe effect on the developer and on his business. He knew the man that died. He could not face doing further work on the properties. He was forced to sell them for less than he had hoped, his health was affected and his family relationships were put under great strain. He no longer works as a property developer.

The accident could very easily have been avoided if the developer had taken simple precautions. He could have appointed a competent plant operator and a banksman for the day. He could also have put-up a perimeter fence, which would have cost him about £200 including delivery, collection and assembly - the cost would have been around 60% less if the fencing was assembled and dismantled on-site by someone competent.

Building Collapse

The proprietor of a Builders' Merchants arranged for his shop to be demolished, to redevelop the site with a new shop with flats above it. He engaged an architect (designer) and also a local builder to act a Principal Contractor (PC). He did not know he had duties, and as the 'client', under CDM 2007 had carried out no checks into the competence of anyone he appointed. He left most of the decisions to the PC, who he selected because he was the cheapest and a regular customer at the builders' merchants. The project was expected to take about 8 months to complete, during which time the Builders' Merchant relocated to temporary premises nearby.

The PC knew he would need a Construction Phase Health and Safety Plan, so he engaged a Health and Safety consultant to write one for him. It dealt with the main risks, and stated there could be a risk to the stability of neighbouring properties if excavations were not properly supported. The PC never read the plan. The PC engaged a structural engineer to do the construction drawings for a concrete framed structure. Having completed the drawings, the structural engineer was engaged to carry out some site visits. He agreed he would do this when the PC phoned to say the site had been levelled ready for construction work to begin. The call never came.

The PC engaged a ground works contractor to reduce the level of the site. The contractor had one man and one machine on site. The machine driver was given a copy of the drawings but did not understand them. His employer and the PC left him unsupervised, to dig out the footings of the new building. He visited the site only briefly each day. Excavations were dug on the site but no suitable support was provided for the excavation or the shop.

During the evening the resident of the top floor flat above the shop saw cracks appearing and widening across the internal walls of his property. He called the Fire Brigade and had just a few minutes to grab some belongings before his life was put at risk, having to evacuate the premises before the building collapsed. The owner of the first floor flat arrived back and they both saw their homes collapse in ruins. The residents of the flats were rendered homeless and lost all their belongings, whilst the bookshop lost its stock and was forced to relocate.

The building contractor had a poor health and safety record, and had consistently failed to heed warnings from the Health and Safety Executive. He was later prosecuted for this incident. The client who owned the builders merchant saw his project delayed for approximately 18 months. During this time he was losing rental income from the flats he had intended to have built.

The residents of the flats next door were homeless for over 2 years, and had to wait longer for any insurance settlement. They suffered severe financial loss, and their health suffered.

The owner of the bookshop managed to recover the losses in stock from the insurance company and got her property rebuilt.