Howard Civil Engineering Ltd has been fined £600,000 and ordered to pay £42,952.88 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching safety legislation. The breaches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations SI 2015/51 and the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 tragically led to the death of a seven-year-old boy on a construction site in South Yorkshire.
Conley Thompson went missing on 26 July 2015 and was found the following day by workers at the construction site in Worsborough for a new-build housing development. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Conley became trapped in a drainage pipe. This pipe had been fixed into the ground ready for the installation of fencing posts. Sadly, Conley suffocated before being found.
The investigation found that there was insufficient fencing in place to prevent people from accessing the construction site. This was as a result of poor planning, management and monitoring.
HSE inspector Paul Yeadon said, "Conley should never have been able to be on that site. He should have been kept out. The construction industry should be aware of the dangers of construction sites to members of the public and any other unauthorised persons."
"The dangers to children gaining access to construction sites and treating them like a playground is an ongoing problem which must be addressed at all types of sites no matter what their complexity or size. The industry must do all it can to ensure children can’t access construction sites and be exposed to the inherent risks they present to prevent further tragedies like this from occurring."
