Construction companies fined following failure of working platform
Two companies have been sentenced following an incident were a working platform failed and a worker using the platform was injured.
On 1 July 2019, Dere Street Homes Limited was acting as principal contractor. The company had provided components for a proprietary polypropylene working platform at a new build in Wheatley Hill, County Durham. SGS Construction & Design Limited were acting as a contractor and supplied workers to erect the working platform.
The working platform failed and a bricklayer using the platform was injured.
An HSE investigation found that a number of components were missing from the working platform. Although workers previously supplied by SGS were formally trained in the erection of the components to form a safe working platform, the worker who erected the failed platform had not received adequate training.
The working platform had earlier been signed off by a site manager working for Dere Street Homes. When this manager left, a number of months prior to the incident, the inspection and signing off of the working platform was no longer undertaken.
Breaches
Dere Street Homes Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 13(1) of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015.
- Regulation 13(1) requires principal contractors to plan, manage and monitor the construction phase and coordinate health and safety matters to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, construction work is undertaken without risk to health or safety.
SGS Construction & Design Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 15(2) of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015.
- Regulation 15(2) requires that contractors plan, manage and monitor construction work carried out either by the contractor or by workers under the contractor’s control to ensure that, so far as is reasonably practicable, it is carried out without risks to health and safety.
Penalties
Dere Street Homes Limited was fined £38,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,367.30.
SGS Construction & Design Limited was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,683.60.
Garage fined after mechanic suffers life-changing injuries in a fall
A garage has been fined after an employee suffered life changing injuries when he fell into a vehicle inspection pit.
On 3 September 2018, an employee of GP Motors Works Ltd on the Isle of Wight fell into a vehicle inspection pit more than five feet deep whilst carrying out mechanical repairs to a nearby vehicle.
The vehicle inspection pit was partially covered with a small vehicle, leaving around seven feet of the pit uncovered and without any other measures to prevent exposing employees to an unnecessary fall risk. The employee sustained serious head and shoulder injuries, which required surgery.
An HSE investigation found the company had failed to ensure the pit had any physical measures, such as barriers or pit covers, in place to prevent a person falling into it.
Breach
GP Motor Works Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
- Section 2(1) requires employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of their employees.
Penalty
GP Motor Works Ltd was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000.
Fines after Shropshire foundry was found to have exposed workers to hand-arm vibration risks
Saint-Gobain Construction Products UK Limited, who operate a large foundry in Telford, has been fined after a number of its workers were diagnosed with hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).
Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates’ Court heard how three employees, the earliest of which had used vibrating tools at the company since 1989, had developed and were subsequently diagnosed with HAVS in 2016.
Despite the diagnosis, one of the workers continued working with vibrating tools without effective control measure. The employees used tools such as hand grinders, air chisels, spindle grinders, and earlier in their employment, jackhammers, to finish cast iron drainage products.
An HSE investigation found that until 19 December 2017, the company’s vibration risk assessment did not identify each employee’s daily exposure to vibration and did not measure cumulative exposures of using different vibrating tools throughout a shift.
The HSE investigation also found there was inadequate health surveillance in place and employees were not made aware of HAVS and its symptoms. Despite health surveillance notifying the company of a HAVS diagnosis, the company had failed to take effective action to adjust the affected worker’s job, meaning that staff continued to be exposed to excessive vibration.
Breach
Saint-Gobain Construction Products UK Limited pleaded guilty to failing to discharge the duties imposed upon it by Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Penalty
Saint-Gobain Construction Products UK Limited was fined £500,000 and ordered to pay costs of £9,453.
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