A Yorkshire based construction company, working on a new housing development in Barnsley, has been fined £600,000 following a fatal incident involving a seven year old boy, in 2015.
According to the HSE, the child was able to gain access to the construction site, where he became trapped in a drainage pipe. Sadly, the child had suffocated by the time he was found by construction workers.
The company was plead guilty to two pieces of health and safety legislation at Sheffield magistrates court. The plea admitted to a breach of regulation 13(4)(b) of the construction (Design and Management) regulations 2015 which specifies the requirement to take necessary steps to prevent access to unauthorised persons to site. In addition the organisation pled guilty to section 3(1) of the health and safety at work act which highlights the requirements to put measures in place to protect people not employed by the company. The company was handed a fine of £600,000 and ordered to pay £42,952.88 in costs on the on the 4th of August 2022.
These are the most tragic kinds of incidents, not only because of the age of the person but also because of how preventable incidents like this are. A simple well-constructed fence, combined with a proper planning, management and monitoring of the site could have easily prevented this fatal incident from occurring.
People may want to gain access to a site for a number of reasons, some may be malicious, some may be accidental and some my just find your site interesting. As an employer we all have a duty to ensure the safety of these people. It’s not just construction sites that have this problem, every business has a duty under section 3(1) of the health and safety at work act and we all must put measures in place to prevent these kind of accidents reoccurring, no matter what sector we work in.
How could iSAFE have helped prevent the accident from occurring?
iSAFE provide a rage of services which help organisations meet the requirements of general health and safety law and industry specific legislation such as CDM. The organisation involved would have benefited from our CDM advice service (for principle contractors) or our CDM management service.
Both of these services, include active monitoring of construction sites against the requirements of CDM. This includes ensuring that adequate fencing and security measures are in place to ensure that the site and any hazards present are out of the reach of trespassers and unauthorised people. These services also help to maintain compliance to other sections of the CDM regulations and other health and safety law.
In addition our Consultancy and Complete Safety management services would have helped to put procedures in place, to ensure the organisation identified the hazards and put appropriate measures in place.
Improve your company’s Health and Safety
If you are a business in Barnsley or elsewhere in South Yorkshire looking for some health and safety support, Speak to the team at iSAFE for a free no obligation initial consultation. Get in touch today.
