Building contractor Urban Summit Construction Ltd has been fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £29,127 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations SI 1998/2307. The prosecution was brought after a worker was killed when a load fell from a tower crane.
The contractor was the principal contractor on a construction site in Colchester where student accommodation was being built. During a lifting operation, a load detached from the chains of the tower crane and landed, tragically, on the Banksman who was in charge of the operation. His injuries were, unfortunately, fatal.
A subsequent investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company had not carried out the lifting operation in a safe manner.
HSE inspector David King said, "It is essential that lifting operations are carried out in a safe manner, to help ensure the lift is carried out without risk to those in the area. Lifting operations must be properly planned by a competent person, carried out by adequately trained persons, and with appropriate supervision. Guidance on carrying out lifting operations safely is freely available on HSE’s website, if this company had properly planned and supervised this work, this tragic incident could have been avoided."
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