CDM Prosecutions

The CDM Regulations have been with us since 31 March 1995, following a 3 month introductory period in early 1995. We are well and truly into the enforcement phase with more and more prosecutions coming down the line. Inevitably, the HSE stance is to prosecute at the point where things go wrong; so the advice is ‘don’t have any accidents’. We have included a small selection of incidents from the HSE’s web site for your information.

• Steelwork design company fined £100,000 following death of 16-year-old
• Health and safety inspectors blitz construction sites in London
• HSE's Biggest Ever Construction Blitz Stops Work On 332 Sites

Steelwork design company fined £100,000 following death of 16-year-old

Conder Structures Ltd of Staffordshire was today fined a total of £100,000 following the death of a 16-year-old ground worker in an incident in which two structural steel columns were blown down by the wind. This incident also resulted in another worker being struck a glancing blow.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution followed the accident, which occurred on 28 November 2000 during the erection of a steel-framed building designed by Conder Structures Ltd and erected by their subcontactors at the Project Arrow construction site, Magna Park, Lutterworth, Leicestershire.

Christopher Kesterton, who had left school only weeks before the accident, was employed by a firm of ground workers for two weeks and was killed after being struck by the falling 17-metre tall steel column, weighing almost two tonnes.

Lee William Neal, supervisor of the steel erection team, was supervising Christopher who was using a pneumatic breaker. Two columns were blown over in the wind after they had been bolted down at their bases but were otherwise freestanding. The two workers were near the columns and ran to escape following a shouted warning. Whilst Lee Neal escaped without serious injury, Christopher was killed instantly.

The two steel columns fell principally because the steel erectors had been unable to fit stabilising wedges between the columns’ base plates and the concrete foundation, and the columns had been left free-standing. The steel work design had been calculated using a wind speed of only 25 mph, and the lack of wedges significantly increased the forces on the column holding down bolts. The bolts failed when the columns began to sway in the relatively moderate winds of 30 mph that were blowing on the day of the accident.

Conder Structures Limited pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSW Act), for failing to ensure the safety of a person not in their employment, at Leicester Crown Court, on Friday 4 July 2003. The company admitted that the activities of their subcontractors were not adequately and competently supervised so as to ensure the safe erection of steel columns.

The company pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that the design for the building included adequate health and safety information, contrary to Regulation 13 (2) (b) of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 1994 at Northampton Crown Court, on Friday 3 October 2003.

Today Conder Structures Limited was fined a total of £100,000 (£60,000 for breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and £40,000 for breach of duties under Regulation 13 (2) (b) of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 1994) and ordered to pay £59374.51 costs at Leicester Crown Court.

HSE Inspector Mark Hatfield said: "This tragic accident occurred because a subcontractor had not been informed by the designer of the maximum wind speed in which the columns could be safely erected free standing; the number and arrangement of the wedges required; or the importance of the base wedging. As a consequence, the steel erectors failed to appreciate the consequences of leaving these particular structural steel columns unwedged and freestanding in wind conditions that were quite normal for the time of year. The failure to adequately and competently supervise the subcontract steel erectors compounded the problem.

"All designers should remember the critical part they play in the safety of the construction process. They need to have robust systems to ensure that designs are carried out or are supervised by trained and competent persons; that quality review procedures cover the most dangerous conditions in the life-time of a structure; and, that safety critical information is passed on to those who need to know it".

Sentencing the company, Judge Christopher Metcalf urged the construction industry to agree on safe levels of windspeed for putting up steel frames such as the one which killed Christopher Kesterton.

He said: "I find it extraordinary that we came to court in the first place with no clear guidelines for the industry".

This is Conder Structures Ltd’s second prosecution for a fatality caused by falling steel work.

The company has previously been prosecuted following the death in 1996 of an employee who was struck by a falling roof truss being fabricated in the firm’s factory.

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Health and safety inspectors blitz construction sites in London

A week long construction safety blitz across London has revealed that many of the capital’s construction sites still have poor health and safety working standards. Enforcement action was taken against almost two-thirds of the sites visited.

223 construction sites were inspected during the blitz and 110 Prohibition Notices were served. Unsafe work was stopped on nearly half the sites visited for issues such as a failure to provide proper fall protection and a lack of welfare facilities.

A further 11 Improvement Notices were issued, most for inadequate welfare facilities.

The blitz was the first of a rolling programme of blitzes to be held across the country over the next 12 months, and concentrated on falls from height and welfare. It took place between 29 April and 3 May 2002. 31 inspectors from HSE, including 12 from outside London, took part in the blitz, arriving unannounced at both small and large sites across the capital. They were organised into three teams which covered the London Boroughs of Camden; Islington; Hackney; Tower Hamlets; Southwark; Lambeth; Lewisham; Greenwich; Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea; and Hammersmith and Fulham.

Barry Mullen, the inspector who led the blitz, said: "We were disappointed with health and safety standards on many of the sites we visited, as is shown by the number of notices served. However, there were a few sites where contractors had put thought and effort into achieving good health and safety standards.

"Inspectors served notices where there was an immediate risk to people’s health and safety though the underlying cause of the problems related to issues such as end of job pressures, poor consideration of health and safety issues in design, failure by main and sub contractors to identify obvious risks and implement safe systems of work, and inadequate project arrangements for health and safety by clients and developers.

"It is clear that the industry has still not got to grips with the fall from heights problem. Figures from the blitz show an unacceptably high level of enforcement for this issue. This is totally unsatisfactory, especially since warnings had been given that a blitz would take place. The industry must do more to address this problem in order to reduce fatalities and major injuries resulting from falls from height."

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HSE's Biggest Ever Construction Blitz Stops Work On 332 Sites

Work was stopped at almost a quarter of the construction sites visited by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors during the national blitz on falls from height during the first two weeks of June. Another five per cent of the sites visited were issued with improvement notices and a number of dutyholders are still being considered for possible prosecution. There were also many instances of work voluntarily stopping until easily solved fall from height risks were reduced.

Inspectors visited 1446 construction sites across Great Britain to make sure that where work at height was taking place or planned, the risk of falling was being properly managed. Falls from height remain the single biggest cause of death, disability and injury in construction in Great Britain, accounting for 37 deaths and 1344 major injuries of workers in 2001/2. Twelve construction workers have died from fall from height accidents since the beginning of April this year.

Kevin Myers, Chief Inspector for Construction said: "It was good to see during the inspection blitz that many people were aware of the campaign and many people had also taken action to improve work at height practices. Yet despite the industry knowing that HSE inspectors were out in force specifically looking at falls from height the standards on 30 per cent of the sites visited were so poor they required enforcement action. This evidence suggests that there is still a large number of people working in the construction industry that are either not aware or do not fully understand their duties to manage fall from height risks. This situation must change if we are to reduce the rate of falls from height, which remains the biggest cause of death or injury in construction.

"On a more positive note, inspectors did find numerous examples where excellent standards of working at height safely were displayed – both by major contractors, smaller sub-contractors and scaffolding companies. People were using new and innovative forms of access methods and equipment."

Some examples of poor practice identified by HSE inspectors were:

• An entire scaffolding gang were found to be wearing worn or damaged safety harnesses with no system for harness inspections;
• A refurbishment job where workers were walking across open steel beams at a height of approximately 6 meters with a fall onto demolition debris below; and
• Many examples of inadequate or absence of toe boards and intermediate guard rails on scaffolding or work platforms;

Although sites were predominately found to be relying on traditional scaffold, harnesses or mobile towers there was evidence of increased use of mobile elevated work platforms (MEWPs), nets and airbags. However some problems were identified with the installation of nets that were not being secured to suitable anchorage points.

The other problem area identified by inspectors related to poor compliance with the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 (CDM Regs). In some instances contractors and planning supervisors were found to be either not fulfilling or not aware of their duties.

Preliminary results of the national construction blitz on falls from height were:

• Number of Sites Visited in Great Britain: 1446
• Prohibition Notices Served: 332
• Improvement Notices Served: 75

The blitz was part of "Don't Fall For It", a Europe-wide inspection-led campaign to reduce falls from height in construction. For the first time, the blitz involved the co-ordinated action of all frontline construction inspectors in Great Britain during the two weeks. The European Commission’s Senior Labour Inspectors’ Committee (SLIC) agreed to undertake this campaign on falls from height risks in the construction industry in 2003, supported by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. The campaign features two inspection initiatives, the second will be taking place in September. All member states will be participating in the campaign.

"Don't Fall For It" includes an advertisement campaign showing an injured worker who has fallen from height leaving the site in an ambulance under the caption ‘Which white van will you be leaving in today?’ The advertisement is currently appearing on billboards and in national newspapers and trade publications. People working in the construction industry interested in finding out more can call 08457 181 819 for a ‘Falls From Height Action Pack’ that includes the free Height Safe video and a poster. So far over 2,000 ‘Falls From Height Action Packs’ have been sent out to respondents.

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