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
Prosecution
Comment – Consistently inconsistent…
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
Breaking…and entering
Demolition man accused of £500k watch burglary at home of football boss. A well known Liverpool businessman has been accused of stealing £500,000 of watches from the home of a football chairman. Thomas Mee was arrested in relation to a break-in at Marsden Manor on Macclesfield Road in Prestbury. Marsden Manor is reported to be…Read moreRead more
Pub demolition prosecution…
“…work done in a haphazard way and ultimately unsafe manner…” A building development company and its director have been sentenced after unsafe demolition work took place at a former pub in Bexley. Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that on 22 June 2016, the former Ye Olde Leather Bottle pub was completely demolished without appropriate action taken…Read moreRead more
Button’s CMA fears…
NFDC CEO “very worried” about potential impact of collusion investigation. National Federation of Demolition Contractors CEO Howard Button has admitted that he is “very worried” about the possible impact of the ongoing Competition & Markets Authority investigation into possible collusion within the UK demolition industry. Speaking exclusively to DemolitionNews, Button says the investigation could “jeopardise…Read moreRead more
Danish cartel laid bare…
Three companies accept penalties in ongoing cartel case. In what is yet another development in the multiple cases about cartels in the demolition industry, three demolition companies have accepted penalties totalling DKK 6.4 million (approx £760,000). Also, three senior employees of two of the companies have agreed to be fined DKK 125,000 (approx £15,000) each…Read moreRead more
Firm fined over glass injury…
Loss assessor suffers laceration to Achilles tendon. G O’Brien & Sons (Nationwide Demolition Contractors) Limited has been fined after a nearby worker was seriously injured on a demolition site in Durham. Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court heard that on 22 February 2018 the company was demolishing two semi-detached properties as part of a project to renovate…Read moreRead more
Firm fined over flashover burn injuries…
Man suffered electrical burns after crowbar is thrown at electrical equipment. Two companies have been fined after a worker received serious electrical burns during demolition work. Chelmsford Magistrates Court heard how on the 12th April 2017, two demolition workers employed by sub-contractor R B Haigh & Sons were removing electrical distribution equipment from a switchgear…Read moreRead more
Illegal method blamed for fatal collapse…
Plan not authorised but “performed surreptitiously, in disregard of city ordinances”. The owner and contractors on a Miami Beach building that collapsed during demolition were accused in a worker’s wrongful death suit of using an illegal work method when the structure crashed in a plume of dust and debris. The Marlborough House was being demolished…Read moreRead more
Detroit cleared…for now
Investigator clears city demolition programme of wrongdoing. Controversial meetings between city officials and specific contractors to discuss federally-funded demolition work before public bidding didn’t violate written rules, but they weren’t transparent and gave the impression of “preferential treatment,” an independent investigation has ruled. The findings from an investigation of Detroit’s Office of the Inspector General,…Read moreRead more
