Two firms have been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for what they describe as 'appalling' standards on a building site in Wimbledon.
Bellway Developments was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,384.50, and Kubik Homes was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,426.50 for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 after shocking safety standards were witnessed at the site.
Amongst the poor conditions, City of London Magistrates Court heard that there was no safe access to the first floor, only a 'makeshift' staircase which had been constructed out of a bag of sand and piles of blocks, which led to the roof of a hut. Wood planks then led from the hut to the first floor and had no protection to prevent falls.
In addition, there was a 2.5 metre-deep excavation, with no guarding to prevent falls or measures to prevent the sides collapsing.
To add to the list of safety issues, the surfaces of the work site were uneven, building material was stacked too high and welfare facilities were very poor.
The Court was told that Kubik Homes had been served three prohibition orders, one of which was being breached during a HSE visit to the site, which led to a further prohibition order being served to stop all work until site management was put into place.
HSE inspector Lorraine Charles said "Although there was no incident, the potential danger to the workers was very high. Conditions on this site were simply appalling. This is a shocking example of bad management of a construction site and it is a miracle that no one was injured."
"Both these companies failed to understand the nature of their duties under health and safety law and failed to sufficiently improve conditions on the site despite repeated interventions by the HSE. We will not hesitate to prosecute companies that behave in this way."
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