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Firm fined £1/4m after poor managements leads to scaffold fall death
Footage filmed for a TV documentary about medics has helped secure conviction of a company carrying out construction work after the death of a 25-year-old plasterer.
Regentford Ltd, of Hackney has today been ordered to pay over £321,000 in fines and prosecution costs.
TV footage showed scaffolding in “very poor condition”
The company were fined £250,000 after being convicted of under HSW Act Section 2(1) following an eight day trial at Croydon Crown Court arising from the death of Balwinder Kumar (also known as Binder Singh) in February 2005.
Mr Kumar, from Forest Gate, was re-pointing brickwork when he fell from scaffolding at the rear of a building in High Street, South Norwood, Croydon. He suffered severe head injuries in the first storey fall.
The scaffolding Mr Kumar had been standing on had been removed before investigators visited the scene. However, during the investigation it emerged that the BBC were filming the documentary ‘Trauma’ with the medical staff who attended the site.
HSE obtained footage showing scaffolding in very poor condition with insufficient guard rails and an inadequate working platform.
Site not properly managed and there was no “effective control”
The HSE investigation showed that health and safety on the site had not been managed appropriately by Regentford Ltd. There was no person in effective control of health and safety on the site.
HSE Inspector Nigel Evans said: “The footage from the documentary crew showed that the scaffolding was totally inadequate for the job in hand. We will use all evidence at our disposal to prosecute employers who fail to manage health and safety risks properly.
Mr Kumar needlessly lost his life on a small construction site, and it is these smaller sites where a significant proportion of fatalities in the industry occur each year.
“The message is simple: whatever the size of company or site, you have exactly the same responsibility to make sure employees have a safe and healthy working environment – and we can and will prosecute if these duties are neglected.”