Two companies have been fined a total of £100,000 after seven workers were injured when wet concrete collapsed during the construction of a new building at Liverpool John Moores University.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that Wates Construction Ltd had been appointed the principal contractor for the construction of a new art and design academy at the university. The firm sub-contracted MPB Structures Ltd to pump concrete at the site.
On 19 September 2007, a team of seven workers from MPB Structures was pumping concrete on to the third floor of the building to create a bridge section above the atrium. The concrete was being poured on to formwork, which was supported by a scaffold. However, the scaffold had been erected from a preliminary design, which had not been approved and was clearly marked ‘for discussion and pricing purposes only’.
The workers pumped in 250 tonnes of wet concrete, which was too heavy for the scaffold to support, causing it to collapse and the men to fall more than 10 metres to the ground. One worker suffered a broken arm and tissue damage to his back, two workers suffered burns to their skin and eyes, and the other four suffered a mixture of cuts and soft-tissue injuries. They have all subsequently made a full recovery.
The HSE’s investigation identified that the drawings for the scaffold did not include all the information needed to erect the structure correctly, or safely. Both companies failed to ensure that a safe design was created and agreed before work started, and also neglected to ensure the scaffold was checked prior to the pouring of the concrete.
HSE inspector Susan Richie said: “The companies should have made sure they had an appropriate design they could use to build from, and that the structure was inspected before the concrete was poured.
“Instead, more than 250 tonnes of concrete were poured on to scaffolding incapable of taking such loads and the inevitable happened – it collapsed. These basic errors could easily have resulted in several people losing their lives.
“This incident should act as a stark reminder that if you fail to plan and manage projects properly then there is a real potential for things to go seriously wrong.”
Both companies appeared in court on 10 April and Wates Construction Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching s3(1) of the HSWA 1974. It was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £35,591 towards costs. MPB Structures pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the same Act and was fined £50,000, plus £35,362 in costs.
In mitigation, both firms said their failure to check the scaffold was an unintentional oversight. The work was completed safely after a new design was approved and a temporary works engineer was contracted to check the structure before work restar
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So the fact that they did not do this with intent makes it more acceptable?
Beyound a joke.
No tender risk assessment to identify requirement of TWE? (CDM)
Resource (competence) shedule? (CDM)
TW Design? (CDM)
Thereafter they appointed a TWE, should have been appointed at planning stage. (CDM).
CDMC not in court? I suppose he/she was unintentional in there failure?
I truely dispair of this Industry sometimes.
No conviction under CDM again, why bother having it?