SITE FOREMAN FINED FOR SAFETY BREACH

HSE press release E113:03 - 26 June 2003

A site foreman was fined £1,500 after he pleaded guilty at the City of London Magistrates' Court on Wednesday 25 June, to a breach of Section 7(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The prosecution resulted from a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation following an accident at the new Sutton Police Station project in Surrey, on 12 November 2001, when another employee suffered two badly broken legs. It is unlikely that he will be able to work again.

The site foreman, Mr John Cullen, was employed by O'Rourke Civil and Structural Engineering Limited, the Principal Contractors for the Sutton Police Station project. He was given the task of establishing the site, which included the erection of a site hoarding around the perimeter. Several large advertising billboards were in place around the site, and had to be removed to accommodate the hoarding. The client had agreed to remove the billboards, but there were several delays in this being carried out.

Mr Cullen had already arranged for some of the advertising billboards to be removed by having them lifted into the site with an excavator and a lifting sling. However, the Project Manager told him to stop, as arrangements were made for the client to remove the billboards, and it was not part of the O'Rourke method statement.

On Monday 12 November 2001 Mr Ron Given began work on the site as a joiner, employed to help make sections of the site hoarding. That afternoon it was decided to remove a large advertising billboard. This required access at height, to remove the frame of the billboard. Under the supervision of Mr Cullen an excavator assisted them. The bucket was turned around on the machine, and Mr Given climbed into the bucket to be lifted to the top of the billboard, a height of approximately five metres.

The bucket fell from the machine tipping Mr Given out who fell to the ground with the excavator bucket falling onto his legs. As a result he can still only walk a short distance with the aid of sticks.

The HSE investigation revealed that the safety pin had not been inserted in the quick-hitch, and that the warning buzzer on the quick-hitch switch was not working. Nevertheless, Mr Given would not have been injured if Mr Cullen had intervened to prevent this highly unsafe system of work. Mr Cullen was fined £1,500 and ordered to pay HSE costs of £1,380.

Notes to editors

1. Section 7(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employee while at work to take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and of other persons who may be affected by his acts or omissions at work."

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