HSE warning to businesses after Kier Construction is fined £400k
Construction company Kier Construction Limited has been fined £400,000 after a worker fell from height. The HSE has said that the case highlights the importance of ensuring that all work at height is properly planned and carried out safely.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard how Jair Morales was installing plywood boards covering holes on the third floor of the building when he fell a distance of 3.95m to the floor below.
The court heard no steps had been taken to prevent him falling through the opening as he installed the plywood boards. Mr Morales suffered fractures in his pelvis and his arm following the fall and has been unable to work since the accident.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Kier failed to ensure the work was properly planned and carried out in a safe manner.
Kier Construction Limited of Tempsford Hall, Bedfordshire pleaded guilty to breaching section 4 (1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, has been fined £400,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,534.
Speaking after the case HSE inspector Owen Rowley said: “This incident could have been a lot worse. The system that Kier Construction Ltd has in place to control the risk from installing the protection for openings was not implemented on site, ultimately resulting in the accident.
“The risks of working at height are widely recognised throughout the construction industry. This case highlights the importance of ensuring that all work at height is properly planned and carried out safely.”
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HSE warning to businesses after Kier Construction is fined £400k
Construction company Kier Construction Limited has been fined £400,000 after a worker fell from height. The HSE has said that
Lauren Applebey
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This highlights the lack of responsibility these huge company’s take in order to protect the people working on there sites that has been going on for years among most construction firms. By subbing out work they think they don’t owe a duty of care and fob off the responsibility onto the contractors. Unfortunately the subbys get the brunt of this by not being supplied with appropriate equipment in order to undertake the task safely and pressured into working in an unsafe manner with the consequences being if they don’t get on with it they don’t get paid or sacked for not working because they haven’t been supplied with suitable equipment that hasn’t been budgeted for because the prices have been screwed down. An industry built on greed and unrealistic time scales. The industry has come along way but still fails on basics. Properly planned but not implemented, monitored or checked sufficiently.
Subbys should have been vetted before being let on site, method statements risk assessment’s etc.,.they should come to site fully prepared for safe systems of work MWP’S etc. PPE (as a last resort)etc. without reliant on borrowing the main contractors plant etc.. Equally their tender quote for the works they’re carrying out should have included this in the costing’s so their tender reflects the plant/machinery required to do the job safely. This should be scrutinized and companies of the such are rejected at tender stage. But crafty unscrupulous subbies, (if they can )get away from hiring expensive plat hire they will to cut costs, and knowing when the site will be inspected will programme in working off ladders etc. ,which inevitably will increase the risk to the workforce.
A more proactive site inspection regime is needed to be at the forefront, to pick out this type of activity, rather than once a week visit from a site inspector! to cut out this type of cowboy behavior.so subby’s are not always the poor relation in all of this .They should put a tender price in that reflects all equipment PPE needed to carry out the task in a safe manner!, and not try to hide behind or be reliant on a a main contractor that did not supply them with the necessary equipment etc. Any subby’s found acting in a negligent way should be very heavily fined, as they are purely interested in profit before safety , and will carry on as such until caught or someone is killed or injured, and then reopen in a new company name.
What should be done?
More vetting on the hiring of subby’s on site in the first place. A more proactive inspection regime, and severe penalties with heavier fines if caught.
The days of fat subby’s sending in men to work in totally unsafe work conditions, threatening the guys with the sack if they don’t, whilst the subby’s sit in the site office cabin schmoozing with the site management ,should be well and truly over. A safe work environment for all is what we want, and cowboys should not be let near a site, let alone on it!
Plywood covers are stone age safe guards and until old habits are changed these accidents will continue.
There are now specific safe guards such as “Penoguard”, which is a 2 in 1 device. It acts as a floor cover and opens out to create a 4 sided guardrail.
The cost of the device may appear high at first glance but the 400K fine could’ve have been spent better