A London construction firm has been fined £50,000 following the collapse of a house during building works, which left four workers injured – two of them sustaining serious injuries
Having been contracted to build a new domestic property located in Hampstead, Aryn Stones Ltd were carrying out remedial works on 31 May 2022 on a partially built beam-and-block floor, when the first floor collapsed.
Two men, a (now) 62-year-old welder and a 31-year-old bricklayer, suffered life-changing injuries when the floor collapsed beneath them, while the two workers at ground level were injured by falling concrete debris.
A series of errors were discovered during an inspection in February
Initial work began in March 2021, but in February 2022, engineers inspected the structure and found a series of errors in the connections of the structural steel beams, leading to remedial works.
During the work, the welder used an oxyacetylene torch to cut a steel beam supporting the first floor. However, at the same time, another worker had been removing some Acrow props that were supporting the beam.
“Lucky nobody was killed”
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident and found the firm guilty of failing to prevent the house collapse from occurring. This included a lack of measures put in place to manage the remedial work carried out while the structure was in a state of temporary weakness, and a failure to prevent danger to any person.
HSE has guidance on managing temporary works available here.
On top of the £50,000 fine, the City of London Magistrates’ Court ordered £39,000 to be paid in costs.
HSE inspector Lucy Ellison-Dunn said: “Although two men were seriously injured, it was lucky nobody was killed.
“This was a completely avoidable incident had a system for the management of temporary works been in place. The company should have taken precautions to protect people from the risk of collapse.
“Everyone working in construction has a responsibility to ensure that everyone on a building site is safe.”
Inadequate protection can cost lives
Last month, the owner of a construction firm was given a prison sentence of 20 weeks, along with a two year suspended sentence, 200 hours of unpaid work, and £10,000 in costs, after a worker died in a fall from height of eight feet.
The worker was working on roof beams without adequate protection or safety measures, such as edge protection, and fell. Despite being rushed to hospital, he unfortunately died from his injuries.
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