£99,900 FINE FOR DIRECTOR

March 2008

Source : SHP February 2008

 A developer and contractor have been fined a total of £110,000 and ordered to pay costs of £160,000 after a Polish construction worker was left permanently disabled.  It was a Director of both companies that bore the brunt of the penalty after the court heard that the breaches resulted from his own negligence.

The Polish worker was left with major crush injuries and fractures to his pelvis and legs after an incident on a building site in Brent, North London.

The court heard that workers were moving a 2 tonne concrete slab into position by rolling it across a mezzanine floor on metal tubes.  The slab became jammed while it was being placed on the steel frame of the floor.  The injured person and another worker got underneath to try and jack it up when it fell onto those below.

Due to the lack of supervision on site and the fact that none or the workers, except one, spoke any English, an ambulance was not called for another half an hour which was the time it took for the Foreman to arrive on site.

The Contractor was described as “using a bulldozing approach to all regulations”.  The workers had no national insurance numbers and were paid in cash.  They didn’t know their rights and didn’t even know how to call for an ambulance.  In fact the HSE only found out about the accident when a friend of the injured person contacted them a few weeks later.

A company Director was accused of “putting a saving of money before the safety of workers” and of “playing every trick in the book to evade his responsibilities”.

The Company was fined £10,000 with £10,000 costs for failing to ensure the safety of its employees by not having a safe system of work in place and for inadequate training and supervision. 

The Company Director was charged under Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for having a “cavalier and sometimes non-existent attitude to health and safety” and was fined £99,000 and was ordered to pay £150,000 costs.  He was also told that if he didn’t pay within 6 months he would face a custodial sentence.

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