Jul72017

Two contractors fined after worker fell from height

HSE

Two London based construction contractors, Sager Construction Limited (SCL) and Shaun Dixon Services Ltd (SDSL) have today been fined after an employee fell more than three metres when a scaffold board that he was standing on broke.

Southwark Crown Court heard SCL had been appointed the principal contractor for the construction of a shopping centre and residential units in Studd Street London. On the 19 February 2015 the 64-year old employee of formwork contractor SDSL was working to install a primary beam in the basement when he fell from the top work platform.

The worker suffered fractures to both of his feet and deep cuts to his head and arms as a result of this fall from height.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that workers were allowed to work off scaffold boards which were in a poor condition. It was also found that the companies involved tolerated particularly poor practices in relation to work at height while erecting the formwork.

Sager Construction Limited of Sager House, 50 Seymour Street, London, W1H 7JG pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 22 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, and has been fined £34,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,577.

Shaun Dixon Services Ltd of Warwick House, 116 Palmerston Road, Buckhurst Hill, Essex, IG9 5LQ was found guilty of breaching Regulation 13 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 at an earlier date.

The company has since entered liquidation and has been fined £160,000 and ordered to pay costs of £15,119.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Gabriella Dimitrov said: “The worker is lucky to have not sustained more serious injuries as a result of this fall from height.

It is entirely foreseeable that accidents will occur where work at height is being carried out without suitable work platforms and other measures to prevent workers from falling. HSE will take action to ensure that duty holders are held to account for any failings.”

Notes to Editors:

  1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk[1]
  2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: www.legislation.gov.uk/ [2]
  3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk

Journalists should approach HSE press office with any queries on regional press releases.

Jul72017

Press release: Lord Lieutenant of Merseyside: Mark Blundell

HM Government

Mr Mark Blundell DL is appointed Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Merseyside.

The Queen has been pleased to appoint Mr Mark Blundell DL as Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Merseyside when Dame Lorna Muirhead DCVO DBE retires on 13 September 2017.

Biographical notes

Mark Blundell is a landowner and former solicitor who has established a residential centre for children of all backgrounds on his family estate at Crosby Hall. He has given much time to Merseyside, having served as President and Pro-Chancellor of Liverpool University, on the Heritage Lottery Fund for the North West, as chair of Merseyside Building Preservation Trust (MBPT), on the Council of Tate Liverpool, and as a trustee of Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Services.

He is at present a governor of the Royal Northern College of Music, a trustee of MBPT and of the Heritage Trust for the North West, chair of Crosby Hall Educational Trust, and chair of Liverpool University Pension Fund.

Mr Blundell lives in the Borough of Sefton with his wife Suzanne, a psychotherapist. They have two daughters and five grandchildren, all of whom live nearby.