A construction firm has been fined £8,500 plus costs of £9,526 after continuing to work on an unsafe excavation even though they had been served a prohibition notice.
JAS Truscott & Son Ltd. was refurbishing a house in Belgravia, London, and was excavating the property's ground floor. They had dug four three metre deep pits to create a basement.
During the basement's development, the company was advised by the local building control that their pits were not supported properly. However, the company continued to work, having received this advice and were subsequently reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The site was visited by HSE Inspector Kevin Shorten on 2nd June 2008, who noticed that two of the pits did not have any supports in place to prevent the sides from collapsing in. The remaining two pits had insufficient supports in place which were present on only two sides of the hole. They also consisted of a plywood backboard which was supported by a horizontal timber strut. The tops of the pits did not have any edge protection.
The company was issued a prohibition notice, prohibiting them from any further work to be carried out with immediate effect until the excavation was suitably planned, and edge protection was put in place. However, when Kevin Shorten visited again the next day, work had continued without any sufficient supports in place and a rope was being used for edge protection.
On 18th August, JAS Truscott and Son Ltd appeared at City of London Magistrate’s Court and pleaded guilty to breaching section 33(1)(g) of the HSWA for contravening a Prohibition Notice and received a fine of £6,500. They were also fined for breaching regulation 31(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 for failing to erect proper supports and for breaching regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company was fined £1,000 for each of these breaches and ordered to pay full costs to the HSE of £9,526.
The company mitigated that they didn’t have any previous convictions, and to ensure that the project was concluded safely, they worked closely with the HSE. They have since sub-contracted a specialist company to carry out basement work on their similar sites.
JAS Truscott & Son Ltd. was refurbishing a house in Belgravia, London, and was excavating the property's ground floor. They had dug four three metre deep pits to create a basement.
During the basement's development, the company was advised by the local building control that their pits were not supported properly. However, the company continued to work, having received this advice and were subsequently reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The site was visited by HSE Inspector Kevin Shorten on 2nd June 2008, who noticed that two of the pits did not have any supports in place to prevent the sides from collapsing in. The remaining two pits had insufficient supports in place which were present on only two sides of the hole. They also consisted of a plywood backboard which was supported by a horizontal timber strut. The tops of the pits did not have any edge protection.
The company was issued a prohibition notice, prohibiting them from any further work to be carried out with immediate effect until the excavation was suitably planned, and edge protection was put in place. However, when Kevin Shorten visited again the next day, work had continued without any sufficient supports in place and a rope was being used for edge protection.
On 18th August, JAS Truscott and Son Ltd appeared at City of London Magistrate’s Court and pleaded guilty to breaching section 33(1)(g) of the HSWA for contravening a Prohibition Notice and received a fine of £6,500. They were also fined for breaching regulation 31(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 for failing to erect proper supports and for breaching regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company was fined £1,000 for each of these breaches and ordered to pay full costs to the HSE of £9,526.
The company mitigated that they didn’t have any previous convictions, and to ensure that the project was concluded safely, they worked closely with the HSE. They have since sub-contracted a specialist company to carry out basement work on their similar sites.
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