Builder jailed for worker’s fatal fall

Open-access content Monday 13th February 2017

From the archive: Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

Builder jailed for worker's fatal fall

Manchester Crown Court heard last week that the 45-year-old labourer had been carrying out repair work at Witney Mill, a warehouse in Manchester, when the incident occurred on 23 November 2013.

Building contractor Saleem Hussain had been hired by the warehouse owner, who believed him to be competent, to carry out repair and maintenance work on the warehouse roof. Hussain then hired two workers to undertake the repairs.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that neither of the workers were qualified to carry out the work at height. They had accessed the warehouse roof using a ladder so that they could repair and seal leaking guttering. The court heard that no safety precautions were put in place to protect the two workers from the danger of falling through the fragile roof.

Not only had the building contractor failed to assess the risk or put a safe working method in place but he had also failed to provide suitable training or equipment to work on the roof.

Hussain, of Birchfields Road, Manchester, pleaded guilty to a breach of s 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and was handed an immediate eight-month prison sentence.

Construction contractor flouted prohibition notice

Monday 27th February 2017

Manchester City Magistrates’ Court was told that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried out an unannounced inspection of the site in April 2015. It served a prohibition notice on Select Quality Homes after it found no or inadequate edge protection on several parts of the scaffolding.When the HSE made a return visit to the site, the deficient scaffolding was still in place.

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Unstable joists led to Balfour Beatty’s £230k fine

Wednesday 1st March 2017

Balfour Beatty Regional Construction (BBRC) was managing the site at Richmond Park Croft, Sheffield, when the accident happened, Newcastle Crown Court was told. The victim was part of a three-strong bricklaying team that had been instructed to work on the incomplete development. On 2 March 2015 the floor gave way at one side and he fell 2.4 m, along with around 70 building blocks. He sustained multiple fractures to his foot.

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HSE. The four workers were moving the ventilation unit from the tower scaffold (right) on to the orange and blue racking. The wooden platform (missing in pic) adjacent to the panel seen above left, gave way

UPDATED DIY chain Leyland stacks up £450k fine after four fell in warehouse refurb

Thursday 2nd March 2017

The company had failed to recognise its roles as client and the principal contractor under the Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations 2015.Two of the four men suffered leg fractures; a third sustained a broken collar bone, while the fourth sustained severe bruising of the chest, which required him to wear a body vest. Had LSDM properly managed the working at height and lifting risks, and also provided the right level of trained personnel and supervision to carry out the work safely, the incident would not have happened.

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Worker fell six storeys to his death in lift plunge

Thursday 9th March 2017

Work was underway to decommission the lift shaft in a building that was being converted into luxury apartments, Southwark Crown Court was told. In January 2011 the victims were working on top of the lift car when the chain that was supporting it broke. It plummeted six storeys to the bottom. One of the labourers, who was wearing a harness attached to the top of the lift car, fell in the space between the car and the shaft and survived with serious injuries. The other worker was not wearing a harness and died instantly.

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Roofer handed ‘merciful sentence’ after hotel fire

Friday 10th February 2017

Roy Cross, the owner of Roofcraft, was repairing the roof of Mount Murray Hotel and Country Club’s accommodation block, which included replacing lead sheets with fibreglass in the roof valleys. Cross and two of his employees had stripped some of the lead and were laying flammable fibreglass resin onto plywood sheets in the valley on 6 November 2013 when it started to rain. Work was halted for the day and the area was covered to keep it dry.

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Jail sentence for director after fireball burned worker

Thursday 9th February 2017

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that David Gordon Stead, of Mildred Street, Beddau, had failed to ensure that the burning of waste material was being carried out safely. On the day of the incident, a young worker was instructed to stand on top of a skip and pour a drum of flammable thinners onto the burning waste to aid the burning process.

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