A building contractor has been fined £600,000 and its director has been ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and fined £4,200 following serious and repeated failings in managing the risk of fire during work at a construction site.
In January 2018 the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) undertook a proactive inspection to investigate health and safety failings by the builder at a construction site at Regent House, Brentwood, Essex after a concern was raised that people were sleeping on site.
The subsequent HSE investigation, which was assisted by Essex Fire & Rescue Service, identified failings in fire management at the site which created risks to workers and members of the public who were visiting show flats outside of business hours.
Construction Environment was not risk assessed
The environment at Regent House was poorly managed and the construction work was being carried out in an unsafe manner which could have resulted in a fire.
The contractor had previously been subject to HSE interventions after risks of a fire had been identified across a number of sites over several years. Evidence gathered during the proactive HSE investigation indicated that the company director regularly attended the Regent House site and failed to implement improvements from previous HSE interventions.
The contractor, pleaded guilty to breaching 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £600,000 and ordered to pay costs of £36,894 at Basildon Crown Court on 25 October 2022.
The Company director pleaded guilty to contravening Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He received a community order to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and was fined £4,200.
After the hearing, HSE Inspector Prentiss Clarke-Jones said:
“The contractor completely ignored the importance of fire safety measures on a construction site led by a director who wilfully chose to ignore the risks despite evidence he knew how to make things safe. This unsurprisingly resulted in a site where risks were also ignored by his workers.”
“Follow the guidance, get competent advice and take responsibility that the law requires at the very least, or someone may get hurt, which thankfully did not eventuate here.”
– HSE
Fire safety on construction sites can be a challenge with many critical features forming part of the project build and therefore not effective, a requirement to assess, control and manage fire safety on live construction sites must be considered, planned and implemented to protect workers and others.
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