A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector says it was “lucky nobody was killed” after four men were injured, including two seriously, when the first floor of a house collapsed during building works.
Aryn Stones Ltd had been contracted to build a new domestic property in Hampstead, north London. On 31 May 2022, remedial works were being carried out on a partially built beam-and-block floor when it collapsed, taking two of the workers down with it.
The two men, a welder who is now 62 and a 31-year-old bricklayer, sustained life-changing injuries, while two other men who were standing at ground level were injured by falling concrete.
Work on the build began in March 2021, but by February the following year, engineers who inspected the property identified errors with the connections of the structural steel beams.
This prompted the remedial works that led the structure to collapse. That came about when the welder was using an oxyacetylene torch to cut a steel beam supporting the first floor. However, at the same time, another worker was removing some Acrow props that were supporting the beam.
State of temporary weakness
An HSE investigation found that London-based construction firm Aryn Stones Ltd had failed to ensure the structure did not collapse while it was in a state of temporary weakness.
The company also failed to put measures in place to manage the temporary remedial work being carried out on the steel connections. It also failed to take all practicable steps to prevent danger to any person while the building was in a temporary state of weakness.
Aryn Stones Ltd was found guilty of breaching Regulation 19(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. It was fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £39,000 costs following a two-day trial at City of London Magistrates’ Court on 18 June 2025.
