HBG Construction Southern Ltd fined £150,000 following manual handling fatality

HSE Press Release: E057:04 30 April 2004

HBG Construction Southern Limited, Merit House, Edgware Road, Colindale, north-west London, formerly known as Kyle Stewart (1989) Limited, was today fined £150,000 and ordered to pay costs of £47,000, following an incident on a building site at 33 Old Broad Street, London EC2 on 21 February 1997.

The prosecution at Southwark Crown Court followed an investigation initially by the City of London Police and then by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Mr Osman Kamara, an agency labourer, died after being struck on the head by a 190kg concrete lintel. Part of the building work involved the construction of a new electrical sub-station in the basement, during which attempts were made to lift the concrete lintel into position to form an opening for a ventilation panel in one of the exterior brick built walls. At the time of the accident, construction of the sub-station was behind schedule.

Mr Dominic Akyeampong, another agency labourer working with Mr Kamara, suffered bruising to his arm. Both were part of a five-man team attempting to manually lift the 190kg lintel into position when the bandstand platform they were using collapsed. As the lintel fell to the ground, it struck Mr Kamara on the head and Mr Akyeampong on his arm. Mr Kamara was taken to the Royal London Hospital, but died a few days later.

HBG Construction Southern Limited pleaded guilty to a contravention of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc., Act 1974, in that they failed to ensure that persons not in their employment were not exposed to risks to their safety.

HM Principal Inspector of Health and Safety Neil Stephens said after the case:

"This sad incident was entirely avoidable and is an example of what can go wrong when planning and supervision is poor and tight deadlines are involved. The risks of manually trying to place a 190kg lintel above head height should have been obvious to any properly trained supervisor or manager on site."

Kyle Stewart's own report into the incident concluded among other things that:

Kyle Stewart management controlling this area of works should have played a more active role in the planning, organisation and execution of the lift.

Furthermore, the HSE expert who advised on the case concluded:

"That even if they [the men] were the strongest, fittest and best trained individuals, it is my opinion that a risk assessment would have indicated that this should have been avoided at all costs."

Neil Stephens added:

"Following the accident, a much lighter lintel weighing, I believe, under one fifth of the original, was used to complete the opening in the wall.

"Every year, one third of all construction industry accidents reported to HSE involve manual handling. The risk of injury from manual handling is well known in the industry; as are the measures needed to manage them."

Judge Loraine-Smith said in passing sentence:

"HBG Construction Southern Ltd was gravely at fault for this accident. It happened not just as a result of some brief oversight, but arose out of a series of failures that showed the company fell well short of the acceptable standard imposed by health and safety legislation."

Notes to editors

1. 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 or safety."

2. HBG Construction Southern Limited, formerly known as Kyle Stewart (1989) Limited, pleaded guilty on Monday 22 March 2004 at Southwark Crown Court to 'failing to ensure the safety of persons not in their employment.'

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