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Liverpool retail park construction project hoarding collapsed on family
Wates Construction Ltd and Hammerwich Construction (Dean Lotwick T/A) have been prosecuted following an incident on 29 September 2008 in which a two-year-old child escaped with minor injuries injury after a 17m wide shop fit-out hoarding collapsed.
The child was with his father and grandparents at the Racecourse Retail Park Aintree when hoarding outside a new shop overturned leaving the family with cuts and bruises.
Liverpool Magistrates’ Court heard that Wates Construction Ltd commissioned Dean Lotwick to build the 2.4-metre high hoarding outside a shop being fitted out at the Retail Park.
Inadequate hoarding design caused collapse
The hoardings had not been designed properly and could not withstand the effect of the wind on the day.
Wates Construction Ltd and Dean Lotwick pleaded guilty to breaching CDM 2007 Regulation 28 (2) by failing to ensure that the hoarding was properly designed and built.
Wates as fined £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,273. Dean Lotwick, of Bruntwood, Staffordshire, was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £6,963 costs.
HSE inspector Kevin Jones said:
“What should have been a pleasurable day out turned into an unpleasant and frightening experience for this family.
Not only did they sustain injuries, but I can imagine that the panic they experienced when their baby disappeared under the hoarding would have been considerable.
It is important that those involved in construction recognise that temporary works such as hoardings are properly designed by competent people and built to the agreed design.This clearly didn’t happen in this case and the result of this was an incident which could have easily been prevented.”