Construction firm fined after the death of a child on a construction site
A civil engineering firm has received a six figure fine after a seven-year-old child became trapped and suffocated on a construction site.
The seven-year-old child went missing from home on the morning of 26 July 2015. The child was found the next morning by workers at the construction site in Worsborough, South Yorkshire. The site was a new-build housing development next to an existing housing estate and adjacent to busy pedestrian footpaths and roads.
An HSE investigation found that the child had become trapped in a drainage pipe. This pipe had been fixed into the ground in preparation for the installation of fencing posts. Tragically, he had suffocated before being found the next morning when work restarted on site.
The HSE found there was insufficient fencing to prevent unauthorised persons from accessing the construction site, due to a combination of poor planning, management and monitoring of the site and its perimeter.
Breach
Howard Civil Engineering Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 13(4)(b) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974:
- Regulation 13(4)(b) requires principle contractors to ensure that necessary steps are taken to prevent access by unauthorised persons to the construction site.
- Section 3(1) requires 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.
Penalty
Howard Civil Engineering Ltd was fined £600,000 and ordered to pay £42,952.88 in costs.
Waste management company fined after a contractor died as a result of a fall
A Wiltshire-based waste management company has been fined after a contractor working on their site died due to a fall from height.
On 18 November 2020 an experienced maintenance contractor was part of a team under the control and direction of Hills Waste Solutions Limited. The contractor fell seven metres while undertaking maintenance work on mechanical screening and separating plant at the site in Westbury. The contractor sustained fatal injuries.
An HSE investigation found that Hills Waste Solutions Limited failed to ensure that work at height was properly assessed and planned. The company failed to consider and identify how the necessary work at height could be carried out safely to ensure that the risk of falls was controlled.
Breach
Hills Waste Solutions Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005:
- Regulation 4(1) requires every employer to ensure that work at height is properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out in a manner which is so far as is reasonably practicable safe.
Penalty
Hills Waste Solutions Limited was fined £190,000 and ordered to pay costs of £14,816, with a victim surcharge of £190.
Unregistered gas installer fined after he failed to answer questions from an HSE inspector
A plumber who was suspected of having undertaken dangerous gas work while unqualified to do so has been fined for failing to answer questions put to him by an HSE inspector.
In February 2020 the man was alleged to have carried out unlawful gas work to replace a boiler at a house in Tingley, Wakefield. The new boiler was left in such a dangerous condition that a Gas Safe registered engineer who attended the house had to make it safe by disconnecting it from the gas supply.
During an HSE interview under caution, the man claimed to have only been hired to do the installation work up to the point where it would then be connected to the gas supply. He claimed that he had arranged for a friend who was qualified to complete all the gas work. The man also stated that another friend had assisted him with general labouring at the property.
During the interview, the man was unwilling to provide the identity of either person. This is an offence as it prevented the HSE inspector from following reasonable lines of enquiry as part of the investigation.
Breach
The man pleaded guilty to breaching Section 33(1)(e) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974:
Penalty
The man was fined £583 and ordered to pay £1,500 in costs.
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