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March/April 2023 issue

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Work at height
Construction
News

Refurb co’s untrained site manager allowed ‘catalogue of failures’

Open-access content Thursday 12th April 2018
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

Refurb co's untrained site manager allowed 'catalogue of failures'

Hammersmith, London-based contactor PVAD was extending a basement at a site in Montholme Road near Wandsworth Common, south London, when the HSE visited in March 2017 and identified serious breaches.

There was no edge protection in several areas, including at the site entrance where workers could fall 4 m into the basement. The contractor had also installed unsafe "home-made" ramps.

The inspector found the site lavatory did not have a cistern to flush and washing facilities consisted of a cold water outdoor tap and bucket, with no soap or towel.

The HSE served a prohibition notice halting work until improvements were made. However, follow up inspections in April and May 2017 found new work at height issues that were so serious the inspector had to close the site down on both occasions until it was made safe.

HSE inspector Adam Thompson said: "PVAD were provided with clear written advice to help them make improvements. They failed to take note of this and continued to rely on a site manager with no formal health and safety training."

He added: "On the three occasions the site was visited the workers were at such risk of falling that work had to halt. It was just good fortune that no one was killed or seriously injured at the site."

At the first follow-up visit the inspector also found the company had breached an improvement notice for the welfare facilities.

Westminster Magistrates' Court heard on 11 April that the HSE had inspected other PVAD sites on several occasions in 2015 and 2016. The contractor had been served with three improvement notices for poor welfare facilities and two formal letters highlighting work at height risk, which also gave advice.

Thompson said: "The standards were particularly inexcusable as the company had received clear warnings in the past."

PVAD pleaded guilty to breaching reg 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, reg 15(11) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and s 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. PVAD also had to pay £1,525 in costs.

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 HSENI pledges to cut high-hazard industry deaths

Wednesday 11th April 2018
The target is part of the HSENI’s new draft corporate plan for 2018-2023, a consultation for which was launched last week.
Open-access content
Sheffield Magistrates' Court | Image credit: ©Stephen Richards (cc-by-sa/2.0)

 *UPDATE* Glazing plc fined £850k for broken knee

Thursday 19th April 2018
The injured fitter was working for HPAS (which trades as Safestyle UK) as part of a team of five operatives carrying out a full window and door replacement job at a house in Doncaster, Yorkshire, on 1 March 2017.As the fitter was carrying a window frame up to the first-floor rear bedroom window, his ladder slipped from under him and he fell more than 3 m. He broke a knee cap which required surgery, Sheffield Magistrates’ Court was told.
Open-access content

 Unsupervised worker fell 2 m during roof replacement

Monday 30th April 2018
Window and door fitter Stuart Barnes, which had been contracted to undertake the roof replacement work, was fined £8,000 for failing to plan it safely. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that 27-year-old Luke Maslen was working on the garage roof when the incident occurred at Courtlands in Portland, Dorset on 5 January 2016. The fragile structure gave way and he fell almost 2 m, sustaining a serious fracture to his upper spine.
Open-access content
Hove Crown Court | Image credit: ©Simon Carey (cc-by-sa/2.0)

 Builder jailed for undermining 'worst' legacy material

Friday 13th April 2018
Hove Crown Court was told that Glen Peters (trading as Brow Builders) undermined the structural integrity of the building by digging out the basement in February 2015.
Open-access content

 Judge fines BT record £90k for ‘unacceptably slow response’ to dangerous streetworks warnings

Tuesday 10th April 2018
The telecommunications giant was working on part of Transport for London’s (TfL) strategic road network in Bishopsgate in the City of London last August when it failed to properly signpost and guard the work area. It had also used the wrong traffic management methods, putting pedestrians, motorists and cyclists at risk.TfL, which brought the prosecution, said despite its “repeated demands” BT had not taken measures to improve safety at the site.
Open-access content
HSE. The area where Paul Welstead fell through the fragile roof

 Construction giant fined £900k for painter’s station roof fall

Friday 20th April 2018
Paul Welstead, who had been subcontracted from a third company, DRH, was carrying out remedial painting works when he fell around 3 m through a suspended ceiling into a waiting room at East Croydon railway station on 7 January 2015.Croydon Crown Court heard on 18 April that the companies had agreed a £12m contract with Network Rail to undertake the replacement of station floor surfaces, canopy roofs and cladding.
Open-access content
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