Construction Health and Safety Consultancy and CDM Adviser Services

Massive Fine for Construction Firm After Worker Dies on the Job
Posted by David Cant on October 7, 2011
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In a case which has highlight the importance of adhering to the Health and Safety laws and regulations, a construction firm have been fined the huge sum of £75,000 after one of their workers was killed. The construction industry is renowned for the multiple dangers which workers face every day.  Health and safety consultants are able to advise firms on how to reduce the amount of potential risks and complete their CSCS tests.

Unfortunately not all firms in this industry pay close enough attention to these laws and regulations. In these cases many men and women find they are injured, or lose their lives needlessly.  This is why the Health and Safety Executive will always prosecute those who are found to be In breach of these very important laws.

Risk Assessments Were Not Performed

On October 5th one of the biggest construction companies in Northern Ireland were found guilty of breaching two legislations which could have saved Mr Desmond Stevensons life.  Mr Stevenson, aged 62, was working at RAF Aldergrove when one of the temporary buildings collapsed on top of him.

The construction firm, Henry Brothers, hired Mr Stevenson as a joiner and were working on a project which involved moving units to a different part of RAF Aldergrove in a deal that was worth over £7 million.  Before work was allowed to be carried out there was no risk assessment carried out. This meant that there had been no thought put into how to carry out the work safely, the risks involved were not highlights and furthermore there was no supervision.  As a result of this negligence Henry Brothers were fined £75,000 and ordered to pay an additional £15,000 in costs.

A Sad Reminder of the Importance of Health and Safety Services

Besides Henry Brothers, another person was also fined £5000 which was Anthony Steward, the architect.  The lawyer working for the defence spoke to the press about how many of the experts who could be found on site had not considered the risks involved in the process, even though the main contractor had taken all of the responsibility for the accident.

The architect Mr Stewart was the project manager however his lawyer pointed out that he was not responsible for the health and safety onsite directly.  Before the incident involving Mr Stevensons had not visited the site for approximately six weeks and therefore he was very surprised to find that he was being prosecuted along with the construction firm.

Don’t Take the Risk

Health and safety services are there to help make sure that all of your work is carried out following the strict laws and regulations in place designed to save lives. Designers and architects all need to be made fully aware of the importance of risk assessments when dealing with construction. The dangers are ever present and the legislations when followed can prevent death and prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive.  Call 0800 1488 677 to speak to the experts about construction with health and safety consultants.

About 

David Cant is a Chartered Safety and Health Practitioner extraordinaire. He has a wealth of Industry experience and is the MD of Veritas Consulting. David also Blogs about Health and Safety here Health and Safety Consultants

His aim is to flavour Health and Safety with integrity, served with a side of humour You can find David on - Twitter and Google also Linkedin

This post has been filed in: Health and Safety Services, Workplace Safety

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