Oldham developer fined for putting lives at risk

Date:

25 June 2010

Release No:

HSE/NW/18Khokhar

An Oldham developer has been fined £2,000 after he ignored two formal safety warnings, putting the lives of local residents at risk.

Mahmood Khokhar, 29, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to make an excavation safe in a residential area. The 1.8 metre deep pit had been dug for the foundations of a house extension on Denmark Street in Chadderton.

A child's ball resting at the bottom of the unstable pit

Trafford Magistrates' Court heard that Mr Khokhar, of Fern Street in Oldham, failed to comply with two Improvement Notices issued by an HSE inspector following a visit to the site on 1 June 2009.

The notices required the excavation to be made safe to stop it collapsing, and fencing to be put up to prevent people from falling in.

Laura Moran, a construction inspector at HSE in Greater Manchester, said: "Mr Khokhar ignored the warnings and advice we gave him about the safety of the site. There was a well-used path and an alley along the side and back of the property so there were plenty of passers-by.

"On one visit, I spotted a child's ball in the bottom of the pit. I dread to think what could have happened if they'd tried to fetch it, as the sides of the trench were starting to collapse."

Mr Khokhar pleaded guilty to two offences under Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 after failing to comply with the Improvement Notices. He was ordered to pay £1,725 towards the cost of the prosecution in addition to the fine at Trafford Magistrates' Court on 24 June 2010.

Laura Moran added: "We always try to give small companies and self-employed builders advice on health and safety before going down the route of prosecution. But Mr Khokhar failed to meet the 21-day deadline for making improvements to the site.

"When I revisited after the deadline had passed, the trench was unstable and there was no fencing. I gave him another six days to make improvements but he did nothing. We therefore had no choice but to prosecute.

"Developers should take enforcement notices seriously and act on them. If they fail to do so then they're putting lives in danger."

On average, one worker is killed every year as a result of excavations collapsing. Earlier this year, a construction company in the North East was fined £5,000 after a worker was trapped for more than two hours when the trench he was in collapsed.

More information on construction site safety is available at www.hse.gov.uk/construction.

Notes to editors

1. Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It is an offence for a person to contravene any requirement or prohibition imposed by an improvement notice or a prohibition notice."
2. HSE issues enforcement notices when it finds serious breaches of health and safety regulations. There are two types of notices - improvement, which require changes to be made within a set timescale, and prohibition, which require that work is stopped immediately until improvements have been made.
3. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
4. Visit www.hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/excavations.htm for more information about safety in trenches and excavations.

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