A Dorset construction firm has been prosecuted for serious safety failings after a worker was buried under a large quantity of fallen earth at a building site in Poole. A colleague dug out soil with his hands to allow worker, Kevin Richards, to breathe but he still suffered severe injuries.
The 46-year-old, of Abbotsbury Road, Weymouth, was checking preparatory work for a basement retaining wall at a property in Lilliput on 8 June 2012 when the unsupported sides of a three metre excavation collapsed. He was struck from behind and was rapidly engulfed by the volume of the soil.
Mr Richards suffered a collapsed lung, a fractured left shoulder blade, a double break to his right leg, and two fractured ribs. He was in hospital for more than four weeks.
An investigation by the HSE found that the excavation at the site, managed by principal contractor Bluebay Properties Ltd, was not supported or suitably battered back.
Bournemouth Magistrates’ Court was told on 22 January that the site in Blake Hill Crescent was also the home of the firm’s proprietor. Mr Richards was working for a firm sub-contracted for the basement part of extension works.
The excavation was 150 square metres and three metres in height. Mr Richards was undertaking final checks on formwork constructed to form a retaining wall as part of the basement. He was in a narrow space between the formwork and the face of the excavation when the collapse happened without warning.
Bluebay Properties Ltd, of Blake Hill Crescent, Lilliput, Poole, pleaded guilty to a breach of section 31(1) Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007. The company was fined £6,000, ordered to pay £4,000 in costs and a victim surcharge of £120.
After the hearing, HSE inspector James Powell, said: “This incident should never have happened. It was only a matter of good fortune that Mr Richards was not killed. Other workers were also put at risk.
“There is a risk of collapse or partial collapse causing serious injury or death if an excavation is not supported or suitably battered back. Any collapse has the potential to bury or injure people working in an excavation.
“Whilst Bluebay Properties Ltd had identified collapse as a hazard, they failed to implement control measures to reduce the risk, instead relying on a visual inspection. No ground can be relied upon to stand unsupported in any circumstances.
“Every year people are killed or seriously injured by collapses and falling materials while working in excavations and this site represented a serious risk to workers.”
Approaches to managing the risks associated Musculoskeletal disorders
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, we hear from Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomics Consultant at HSE’s Science and Research Centre, about the different approaches to managing the risks associated with Musculoskeletal disorders.
Matt, an ergonomics and human factors expert, shares his thoughts on why MSDs are important, the various prevalent rates across the UK, what you can do within your own organisation and the Risk Management process surrounding MSD’s.
A 46yr old climbs into a 3m dig??
Sounds all too familiar.
Where was his perception of risk?
And he`s checking prepretory work on TW. Theres an irony if ever I heard one?
I wonder what the Designers Risk assessment indenified? and how did BC miss this?
Who needs the muppet show?