Three firms fined £30k after worker crushed

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A client, principal contractor and demolition contractor have been fined a total of more than £30,000 after the uncontrolled collapse of part of a building left a worker with a fractured neck, back and ankle.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard how Taylor Grange Developments of Birmingham were the client for the demolition and new build project at the former Kilmacolm Institute in Inverclyde.

The client took on Glasgow-based Allied Contracts Limited to act as principal contractor.

Allied Contracts then hired Altan Plant Hire Limited of Glasgow to carry out the demolition of the three-storey building.

The court heard how, on 2 June 2015, workers with no demolition training were inside the building demolishing internal walls by hand when a wall and ceiling collapsed onto one of them.

One worker, Richard O’Hagen, was taken to hospital suffering fractures to his neck, back and ankle.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Taylor Grange Developments had failed to make suitable arrangements for managing the demolition project, failed to make suitable arrangements to ensure that demolition work could be carried out without risks, failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that the principal contractor they appointed complied with their legal duties and failed to ensure that adequate welfare facilities were provided.

It also found that Allied Contracts failed to plan, manage and monitor the construction phase to ensure that the demolition work was carried out without risk to health and safety.

The principal contractor also failed to appoint a demolition contractor who had the necessary skills, knowledge, experience and organisational capability to carry out the work safely, failed to regularly check standards of health and safety on site and failed to ensure that adequate welfare facilities were provided on site during the demolition work.

Meanwhile, the HSE’s investigation found that Altan Plant Hire failed to plan the demolition safely and failed to take into account the risks to workers from structural collapse.

The contractor failed to provide a safe system of work as they chose to use hand demolition methods rather than remote demolition by machine, failed to ensure the electrical supply was isolated, failed to plan work for the safe removal of asbestos cement sheets, failed to provide edge protection around holes in the floor and failed to provide adequate welfare facilities during the demolition work.

All three firms pleaded guilty to breaches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.

Altan Plant Hire was fined £20,000, while Taylor Grange Developments was fined £4,500 and Allied Contracts was fined £6,000.

HSE principal inspector Graeme McMinn said: “This serious incident could have led to multiple fatalities and was caused by three separate duty holders not complying with their legal duties.

“Altan Pant Hire used inexperienced and untrained workers to demolish the three-storey building. They wrongly decided to use hand methods to demolish the building when remote demolition by machine was a much safer option.

"Allied Contracts failed to appoint a competent contractor to who could carry out the work safely and then failed to make any checks on how the work was done.

"Taylor Grange Developments, as client, set the tone for the project by failing to make suitable arrangements to ensure the demolition work would be carried out safely and failing to ensure that the principal contractor they appointed was complying with their legal duties."

"In addition, none of these duty holders ensured that the workers on site had access to toilets, washing and canteen facilities. This incident is a stark reminder of what can happen when clients, principal contractors and contractors fail to comply with their legal duties."