Firm fined £20,000 for ignoring safety warnings (From Wandsworth Guardian)

Construction firm fined £20,000 for ignoring safety warnings

7:40am Tuesday 1st May 2012 in News

A construction company has been fined £20,000 for repeatedly ignoring safety warnings while working at a site in Croydon.

The Healthy and Safety Executive (HSE) identified multiple failings at the project on Sylvan Hill, Upper Norwood, to build a four-storey block of flats.

On April 25, Westminster Magistrates Court heard a HSE inspector served eight prohibition notices to stop dangerous practices at the site, which was being run by Unicorn Services Limited, after identifying serious safety breaches on a visit on September 26, last year.

The notices covered dangerous scaffolding, people working unsafely at height, fire-related hazards and dangerous electrical equipment.

Unicorn of Montpellier Avenue, Bexley, also supplied "appalling inadequate" documentation for risk assessments and project management.

When the HSE returned to the site a month later, little or no improvement had been made to many of the illegal practices.

An Improvement Notice was served requiring the site manager to arrange adequate training in order to safely manage construction operations, but the manager failed to meet a compliance date of late November.

Last week the company were found guilty of breaching regulations for its poor site management and failure to adhere to enforcement action.

As well as the £20,000 fine, the company were also ordered to pay costs of £5,940.

After the hearing HSE Inspector Andrew Verrall-Withers said: "The construction site at Sylvan Hill was a potential death trap, with scant regard for safety of employee welfare.

"Even though there were no reported incidents at the site, serious safety breaches were routinely committed that could have resulted in death or serious injury."