A building company has been fined after a demolition worker suffered serious injuries after falling from a platform in Kensington in London. Ovidiu Dobra was working for Henry Construction Projects Limited at a building site on Kensington High Street when the incident happened on 2 March 2021. Dobra was working on the ten-foot high platform…Read moreRead more
Prosecution
Firm fined over worker fall
Paltry fine for power station fatality
A £5,000 fine has been levied against a demolition contractor after an employee – Gary Robertson – fell to his death when a rusty pipe bridge platform collapsed. The incident happened on 6th February 2019 at Longannet Power Station, Fife. By September 2020 the contractor concerned – Brown & Mason Ltd – was in administration…Read moreRead more
Nominal fine for fractured ankle…
A contractor has been fined £600 after an employee was hit by falling debris from a wall that was being demolished in an unsafe manner. Blackpool Magistrates’ Court heard that on 10th January 2020, Barrowbridge Construction Limited had been contracted to demolish a garage in Clitheroe, Lancashire. Three operatives pushed over the remaining part of…Read moreRead more
Dangerous digger driver fined…
A digger driver has been sentenced after police were forced to stop him causing chaos on a Blackburn demolition site. Blackpool Magistrates’ Court heard how Peter Walling’s company had been contracted to demolish a former medical centre in Blackburn and clear the land ready for development. Between 15 November and 6 December 2018, four separate…Read moreRead more
Costly cloud…
Failure to control dust leads to settlement. More than seven months after an implosion covered Little Village in a cloud of dust, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has settled a lawsuit against Hilco Redevelopment Partners and its contractors. Raoul announced the settlement Thursday, which will require Hilco to pay $370,000 into a fund to support…Read moreRead more
Three fined over demolition death
“Inadequate planning and inadequate safety provision” cited in demolition death prosecution. Portsmouth Crown Court heard how David Shayler, an employee of Ryde Demolition Limited, was removing roof timbers by hand with a colleague, when a gable wall partially collapsed causing him to fall backwards striking his head against a stack of roof tiles. An investigation…Read moreRead more
Two fined over Camden blast death…
Worker killed when fuel storage tank exploded. Materials Movement Ltd and P J Labour Services Ltd have been fined after a worker was killed in an explosion at a demolition site. Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 16 March 2017, 54-year-old Stephen Hampton, working at a site on Swains Lane in Camden, London, was killed…Read moreRead more
Pig ignorant..
Jail time for demolition man in asbestos rap. An employer has been sentenced for failing to reduce the exposure and spread of asbestos when demolishing a large pig shed. Lincolnshire Magistrates’ Court heard that, in July and August 2018, whilst carrying out demolition and asbestos removal works at the former pig shed on Caenby Corner,…Read moreRead more
Comment – Consistently inconsistent…
Fine handed down after site fatality highlights fickle nature of legal system. It is just 48 hours since I – like so many before me – labelled the law an ass. But with uncustomary haste, the legal profession has today proved itself so be so much worse than that. With a single ruling, it has…Read moreRead more
McGee slapped with fatality fine…
Demolition firm fined almost six years after fatal accident. McGee Group has been fined half a million pounds after a father-of-two was killed when a reinforced concrete slab collapsed underneath him during a London demolition project. Southwark Crown Court heard that on 14 April 2014, 33-year-old labourer Dainius Rupsys from Lithuania was working with an…Read moreRead more