Dailycsr.com – 28 April 2016 – A “construction firm” has charged as its stack of building blocks collapsed. HSE informs that the stack was poorly kept, whereby the blocks “fell through the hoardings” that encompassed the company’s site at Altrincham, Cheshire. Moreover, the spillage also came over to cycle lane and pavement.
The name of the accused company is Altin Homes which was “acting as client and main contractor” for converting an old petrol bunk into residential apartments. The company was in the site of the work and in “control” of all the construction related matter when the collapse happened.
The HSE sent its inspectors for an initial take on the project in the month of June 2014 after the “blocks collapsed” dangerously. During this visit, the inspectors discovered other stacks that were stored badly and posed an imminent threat of “crashing through the hoarding a second time”, whereby the HSE team instructed the firm to remove the stack “as soon as possible”.
Consequently, HSE produced to “two prohibition and two improvement notices” besides a “contravention” notification. However, HSE stated that Altin complied and took care of “some of the problems”. Nevertheless, after a fortnight, the team of HSE on visiting Altin’s premise once more discovered that “the unsafe blocks that caused the original incident” was still in the same place.
Moreover, Altin Homes has been “pleaded guilty” for breaching “Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act, and Regulation 22(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007”. On the 22nd April of 2016, Magistrates from Trafford fined Altin Homes a sum of “£40,000” along with an additional “£3000” as costs.
The inspector at HSE, Matt Greenly, investigating the case, said:
“Altin Homes failed in their duty to protect their workers, subcontractors and members of the public passing by this site from a foreseeable risk of serious harm.
“Luckily no one was injured when the blocks fell through the site hoarding but, given the size and weight of the building blocks that fell onto the pavement and highway, there was the potential to cause serious injury or even death to both employees and the general public. It was nothing other than good fortune that no pedestrians were passing along the pavement when the blocks fell.”
References:
http://www.healthandsafetyatwork.com/
The name of the accused company is Altin Homes which was “acting as client and main contractor” for converting an old petrol bunk into residential apartments. The company was in the site of the work and in “control” of all the construction related matter when the collapse happened.
The HSE sent its inspectors for an initial take on the project in the month of June 2014 after the “blocks collapsed” dangerously. During this visit, the inspectors discovered other stacks that were stored badly and posed an imminent threat of “crashing through the hoarding a second time”, whereby the HSE team instructed the firm to remove the stack “as soon as possible”.
Consequently, HSE produced to “two prohibition and two improvement notices” besides a “contravention” notification. However, HSE stated that Altin complied and took care of “some of the problems”. Nevertheless, after a fortnight, the team of HSE on visiting Altin’s premise once more discovered that “the unsafe blocks that caused the original incident” was still in the same place.
Moreover, Altin Homes has been “pleaded guilty” for breaching “Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act, and Regulation 22(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007”. On the 22nd April of 2016, Magistrates from Trafford fined Altin Homes a sum of “£40,000” along with an additional “£3000” as costs.
The inspector at HSE, Matt Greenly, investigating the case, said:
“Altin Homes failed in their duty to protect their workers, subcontractors and members of the public passing by this site from a foreseeable risk of serious harm.
“Luckily no one was injured when the blocks fell through the site hoarding but, given the size and weight of the building blocks that fell onto the pavement and highway, there was the potential to cause serious injury or even death to both employees and the general public. It was nothing other than good fortune that no pedestrians were passing along the pavement when the blocks fell.”
References:
http://www.healthandsafetyatwork.com/