Firms fined £70,000 and £40,000 after Bristol man left with severe brain injuries

Date:

24 June 2011

Two firms have been fined today at Bristol Crown Court after a Bristol man suffered severe head injuries when a scaffolding tube fell on him from 15 stories.

Richard Chodkiewicz, 53, from the Lawrence Weston area of Bristol, was working for Hoistway Ltd on a lift installation at the construction site for a new Radisson Blu hotel in Marsh Street, Bristol, when the incident happened on 22 July 2008.

The court heard that three men had been working on the lift installation, with Mr Chodkiewicz and a colleague at the bottom of the shaft. Another man was positioned 18 stories up, at the top of the shaft, and was raising a 7lb scaffolding tube tied to a length of piano wire up the shaft.

Mr Chodkiewicz had come away from the lift shaft but had returned before the tube had been lifted from the shaft. The tube had reached the 15th floor, when the piano wire became untied and the tube fell onto him, hitting his head. He survived, but has suffered permanent brain damage as a result of his injuries.

An HSE investigation following the incident found that both Hoistway Ltd and the main building contractor on site, Miller Construction (UK) Ltd, had failed to ensure that a safe system of working was in place for the installation of lifts on the site.

After the hearing, Steve Frain, HSE Inspector, said:

"The contractors involved should have had effective arrangements in place to ensure that Mr Chodkiewicz was not in the bottom of the lift shaft while anything was being raised or lowered. Even a smaller object falling on him from that height could have killed him or his colleagues.

"As it was, he was struck with such force by the pole that he now has severe brain damage and requires 24-hour care."

The investigation also found that there had been inadequate site management and insufficient risk assessments carried out before the work was undertaken. Openings had been left unguarded and not enough had been done on the site to prevent the risk of falling objects.

Hoistway Ltd, based in Martock, Somerset, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £70,000 with £14,616 costs. Miller Construction (UK) Ltd, based in Edinburgh, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the same Act and was fined £40,000 plus £17,232 costs.

Last year, 42 construction workers were killed in Great Britain and there were more than 3,000 major injuries. Information on improving safety is available at www.hse.gov.uk/construction.

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce 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.
2. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 states that: 'It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.'
3. Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work 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.'
4. The court also ordered the defendant to pay a separate £15 victim surcharge, the proceeds of which will be spent on services for victims and witnesses.

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News and PR (South West)