Sage Homes Limited and the director were found guilty of safety breaches leading to the incident
A child injured by a falling pipe has led to a construction company and its director being fined, after safety breaches were uncovered during building works in Totton.
The injury took place on 20 July 2021. A cast iron pipe fell during work on a house extension, which fell on the head of a child walking by, fracturing his skull.
A failure to take precautions
The base of the pipe had been broken a few days before, and it was left being held up by a TV cable. This cable was removed, causing the top two sections of the pipe to fall across the pavement.
The pipe was old, estimated to be from around the 1930’s, and being made of cast iron, weighed more than 45kg.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched an investigation into the incident afterwards, and found that there was a failure to properly assess a foreseeable risk, leading to the accident. Jason Scorey, director of Sage Homes Limited, stated he saw no need to secure the pipe against the wall.
On 12 September, the company and Mr Scorey were sentenced for breaching Section 3(1) and Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
Sage Homes was given a fine of £15,000, and Mr Scorey was given a personal fine of £1,685, costs of £10,436, and given 45 days’ imprisonment in default. Both must also pay a victim surcharge.
HSE inspector Alexander Ashen said: “Properly assessing risk to workers and members of the public is a vital part of any construction project.
“It would have been a simple and inexpensive task to secure the pipe once it had been broken out at its base. The fact that the construction work was being carried out yards from a school gate at the time parents were collecting their children should have prompted even more care on the part of the duty holder.
“This case should underline to everyone in the building trade that the courts, and HSE, take a failure to follow the regulations extremely seriously. HSE will not hesitate to take action against companies and their directors which do not do all that they should to keep people safe.”
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