Principal contractor fined £40,000 following fall from height death

HSE Press Release E020:04 10 February 2004

A construction company was fined a total of £40,000 and ordered to pay £12,983 costs at the Old Bailey on Friday 6 February 2004, after pleading guilty to a breach of health and safety legislation. The case, brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) against Eugena Ltd, arose following a fatal accident during construction work at St Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth Palace Road, London SE1.

Construction worker Ian Mallon was laying blockwork at a height of about 2.5 metres when he fell from the unguarded edge of a scaffold work platform on 17 June 2001. As a result of the fall Mr Mallon suffered severe head injuries from which he died in hospital several days later. The incomplete scaffold platform used by Mr Mallon and his workmates had not been inspected by a competent person after its alteration.

Eugena Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of duties under Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act etc 1974, in that they failed, so far as was reasonably practicable, to ensure the health and safety of persons not in their employment.

Sentencing the company, the Judge said:

"Sadly it is all too often the case [that] when not adequately supervised corners are cut, a principal contractor must be alive to such risks."

HSE Principal Inspector, Neil Stephens, said after the case:

"This case has demonstrated that principal contractors simply cannot assume that sub-contractors, if left unsupervised, will act safely. Principal contractors must ensure that they have adequate arrangements in place to supervise the work of their sub-contractors.

The HSE inspector dealing with the case, Michelle Workman, added:

"If proper supervision had been provided on site before this accident, and the scaffold platform had been inspected prior to use, then this accident could easily have been prevented."

Notes to editors

Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states that:
"It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health and safety."

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