John Doyle Construction Limited of Welwyn Garden City, Herts and Exterior International Plc of London, were fined a total of £350,000 (Eur 510,000) following the investigation into a fatal incident on a building site on 6 August 2002, at Albion Riverside Development, Hester Road, Battersea, London.
Jack Tangney, a 29-year-old from New Zealand died when a large timber panel called a ‘shutter’, which fell to the ground whilst it was being lifted from the ground to the ninth floor, from the north west corner of the site, struck him.
Davies said: “The risk of serious injury, or worse, from badly planned lifting operations is well known in the industry – as are the measures needed to manage them.”
She added: “Had these construction companies carried out an appropriate risk assessment, Mr Tangey would be alive today. This avoidable incident is an example of how badly things can go wrong.”
Davies also said that when carrying out lifting operations on site, three key elements must be in place to ensure the safety of the lift. First, a competent person must be involved in planning the lift, secondly, the lift must be adequately supervised and finally the lift should be carried out in a safe manner.
John Doyle Construction Limited, Mr Tangey’s employer, was fined £200,000 (Eur 291,000) for contravening section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and £50,000 (Eur 73,000) for contravening section 3(1) of the same Act.
Exterior International Plc were fined £100,000 (Eur 146,000) for contravening section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
John Doyle Construction Limited, subcontractors on the site, and Exterior International Plc, principal contractor’s on site, previously pleaded guilty to the above charges on 11 April 2006 at City Magistrates’ Court, 1 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4N 4XY.
Legal costs are to be agreed at a further hearing.
