Housebuilder St James and specialist contractor Lindner Prater have been fined £1.3m after a window unit fell on a luxury development and killed a coach driver.
Mick Ferris, 53, was on a break when hit by the 130kg unit from a height of 300 feet and died instantly in the incident at the Corniche development in London’s Albert Embankment on 2 October 2018.
Berkeley arm St James was principal contractor and principal designer for the three-tower luxury development near Vauxhall Bridge and engaged Lindner Prater to design the penthouse windows.
Window design change
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that at an early stage of the design process, the windows had been changed from opening inwards to opening outwards, meaning if they detached, they would fall onto a pedestrian area. However, they were never effectively risk assessed.
“Two companies – widely seen as leaders in their fields failed to respond to an obvious risk, and tragically this cost the life of a man simply going about his day.”
The safety of the windows relied on the performance of a single restrictor, held in by a single screw, and none of the fittings had been confirmed by their manufacturers to be suitable for the bespoke curved penthouse windows.
In August 2017, more than a year before the fatal incident, a window left open in windy conditions fell from the same penthouses during construction, nearly hitting two workers. St James led an internal review into the 2017 near miss, but records obtained by the HSE showed key noted areas of concern were not followed up effectively.
It was only after the second incident in 2018 and Mr Ferris’ death, that the windows were redesigned to open inward and the public walking below the penthouses were no longer at risk if a window was left open.
Failure to respond to obvious risk
HSE lead inspector Andrew Verrall-Withers said: “Two companies – widely seen as leaders in their fields failed to respond to an obvious risk, and tragically this cost the life of a man simply going about his day. Both times a window fell, the wind speeds were not unusually high.”
“Even after a window had fallen in 2017, luckily just missing workers below, sufficient attention was not given to assessing the risk of the windows detaching and falling if left open in windy conditions. Too much reliance was placed on adding a small sign to the windows, in effect hoping the residents would not forget to close windows.”
“The construction industry should pay attention to this tragic case. Principal designers need to pay careful attention to clarifying exactly what services architects, designers, and consultants will provide, and then effectively monitor their performance to ensure related risks are identified and coordinate necessary improvements.”
Sentences handed down
After a five-week trial, both St James, of Berkeley House, 19 Portsmouth Road, Cobham and Lindner Prater of 45 London Road, Reigate, were found guilty found guilty to contravening Section 3(1) of The Health and Safety at Work Act etc. 1974.
At sentencing this week at the Inner London Crown Court, St James was fined £1m and ordered to pay costs of £125,000 and Lindner Prater was fined £300,000 and ordered to pay costs of £125,000.
