Construction companies fined after serious accident on building site

Date:

09 March 2009

Release No:

COI/SE/0301

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is reminding construction companies to carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessments in order to fully protect their employees.

This follows the successful prosecution of two companies after an incident in September 2006 involving a worker who was seriously hurt after falling through a roof-opening of a gatehouse which was under construction.

At Guildford Crown Court, Laing O'Rourke Construction South Ltd, which has its company head office in Dartford, was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 costs after pleading guilty to contravening regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 as defined by Regulation 3(3)(b)

The site sub-contractor Durable Contracts Ltd, based in Belvedere in Kent, was fined £25,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 costs after pleading guilty to contravening Section 3(1) of the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999, by not carrying out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment for employees working on roofs.

The defendants were involved in the construction of a new laboratory block and gatehouse for the pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli-Lilly at Windlesham in Surrey. The victim, 57 year-old Tony Scott from Hertfordshire, suffered severe, extensive and long-lasting injuries after falling through an unmarked hole in the roof of the newly constructed gatehouse.

HSE Inspector Amanda Huff said:

"This prosecution should act as a warning to all those involved in the management of the construction projects. It was down to chance alone that this incident did not result in a fatality. This accident would have been avoided if the work had been properly planned and the appropriate control measures implemented."

Notes to editors

1. Regulation 3(3)(b) of the Working at Height Regulations 2005 states: The requirements imposed by these Regulations on an employer shall also apply to any person other than a self-employed person, in relation to work by a person under his control, to the extent of his control.
2. Regulation 6(3) of the Working at Height Regulations 2005 states: Where work is carried out at height an employer shall take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent, so far as is practicable, any person falling a distance liable to cause a personal injury.
3. Section 3(1) of the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states: Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of (a) the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work; and (b) the risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his undertaking, for the purpose of identifying the measures he needs to take to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed upon him by or under the relevant statutory provisions and by Part II of the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997.

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News & PR (London & South East).