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March/April 2023 issue

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Construction
News

Carpenter fatally injured in temporary platform fall

Open-access content Friday 4th November 2016
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

Carpenter fatally injured in temporary platform fall

Southwark Crown Court was told that a carpenter and a steel fixer had been standing on the wooden platform above a stairwell opening on the ninth floor of a building. The platform collapsed and they fell approximately 16 m on to a part-built concrete staircase.

The carpenter died of his injuries. The steel fixer was severely hurt and could not return to work for three years.

An engineer's assistant, who was working in the stairwell on a lower level when the accident happened on 29 October 2012, was struck by falling debris and also sustained serious injuries.

The Health and Safety Executive found that platforms similar to the one that collapsed had been fitted on other floors throughout the site, despite not having been built to an agreed safe design. They were made of timber joists held by unsuitable joist hangers with plywood fixed on top.

A site controller had failed to check the quality of the platforms, which were part of "temporary works", the HSE said, even though they were crucial to the safety of those working on upper floors.

Property developer and the principal contractor for the project, St James, part of developers the Berkeley Group, pleaded guilty to breaching reg 22(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) (CDM) Regulations 2007 after it failed to safely plan, manage and monitor the work. It was fined £600,000 and ordered to pay costs of £14,935.

Mitchellson Formwork and Civil Engineering, the contractor responsible for building platforms, was fined £400,000 plus £14,935 in costs after it admitted breaching reg 13(2) of the CDM Regulations 2007 -- also for failing to safely plan, manage and monitor the work carried out under its control.

RGF Construction, a site agent which assisted with managing the work, was found guilty at a hearing on 4 July of breaching regs 13(2) and 28(2) of the same regulations, the latter of which covers the installation of temporary supports and structures. It was fined £20,000.

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 *UPDATE* Developer revamped temporary works procedures after fatal fall

Thursday 17th November 2016
As IOSH Magazine previously reported, the carpenter worked for Mitchellson Formwork and Civil Engineering, which was subcontracted by St James (part of Berkeley Group), which was principal contractor on the project. The companies were building two nine-storey mixed residential and retail units in Putney, south-west London.
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 CO poisoning killed worker on London construction site

Thursday 27th October 2016
An employee of Non Destructive Testing Services was carrying out pile testing at a construction site in Brixton, London on 29 May 2012, Southwark Crown Court was told. The worker was inside an accommodation unit fitted to a vehicle when he was overcome by carbon monoxide fumes from one of the unit’s gas appliances and died.The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) investigation found the unit’s ventilation was inadequate. There were two gas appliances in the cabin, with pipework and gas cylinders that that been there for several years.
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 New union inspection regime for Qatar World Cup sites

Thursday 17th November 2016
A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) and the Qatari Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy.The agreement, signed in the Qatari capital Doha, allows joint inspections of construction sites and workers’ accommodation from January. It covers World Cup projects built by companies headquartered in countries where BWI operates. These are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, India and Italy.
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Work-related deaths fall by 48%, says HSENI

 Work-related deaths fall by 48%, says HSENI

Tuesday 18th October 2016
In 2015-16 fatalities at work, including those in areas that are the responsibility of local councils, were down 48% to 12 compared with 23 in the previous year. There was one fatality in general manufacturing, one in health and two in other work activities.   Farm-related deaths were down from nine to six and construction fatalities fell from five to two, one of which involved a member of the public. “Zero fatalities, as was achieved in 2009, has to be the industry objective,” the report says of the construction sector.
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 Pallet rack fall costs janitorial equipment co £60,000

Tuesday 22nd November 2016
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 Dumper unsuitability led to double amputation

Thursday 13th October 2016
Truro Crown Court was told that Roger Daw, 58, was operating a fully-loaded front-tipping dumper on MJL Contractors’ site in Perranporth, Cornwall. As he drove the vehicle down an incline, it became unbalanced and tipped over. Daw, who is not thought to have been wearing a seatbelt, was thrown from the dumper which then landed on his legs and crushed them. He was airlifted to hospital where both legs were amputated.
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  Morrisons’ £3.5m fine is ‘a warning to all employers’, says council

Friday 24th March 2023
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 IOSH launches new five-year strategy

Tuesday 21st March 2023
IOSH launches its new five-year strategy this spring. It will build and act on the reshaped purpose and ambition gained during WORK 2022, which ran from 2017 to 2022.
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 Risk & Compliance software provider collaborates with HSE and Costain to improve risk management on worksites

Friday 17th March 2023
A Belfast-based Risk & Compliance software provider has been collaborating with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and construction giant Costain as part of an ongoing project to unlock artificial intelligence’s (AI) potential in improving the management of risks on worksites.
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Friday 17th March 2023
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 Musculoskeletal disorders in construction

Thursday 2nd March 2023
Ian Whittles, an HSE construction inspector, reveals the cultural challenges in the sector, the drive behind the Work Right campaign and the musculoskeletal benefits it hopes to achieve.
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 Principal contractor handed £146k fine for fatal excavator crush goes into liquidation

Tuesday 14th February 2023
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 British Airways subsidiary fined £230K after engineer suffers life-changing fall

Thursday 16th February 2023
We speak to HSE inspector Dr Sara Lumley about a case where an aircraft engineer fell from a maintenance dock, causing life-changing injuries.
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 2.3m fatal fall results in £480,000 fine

Thursday 6th October 2022
We speak with HSE inspector Pippa Trimble about how a lorry driver’s fatal fall resulted in an almost half-million-pound fine
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  Fatal fall lands family-owned firm with £190,000 fine

Tuesday 30th August 2022
A waste and recycling firm has been found guilty of safety failings after an experienced maintenance contractor sustained fatal injuries in a seven-metre fall
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