A property company based in London has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive, after a migrant worker suffered a serious accident at work on a job in Hackney.
The 46-year-old Chinese worker, who has not been named, was working on a warehouse when the accident occurred. On the 13th October 2009, the migrant worker was said to have fallen approximately five metres from a section of scaffolding that had not been completed. Prior to the accident, the worker had been removing floor beams from the property.
After falling five metres, the migrant worker was treated in hospital for life-threatening injuries to his spine, head and pelvis. Despite surviving the fall, the worker continues to experience pain and discomfort and is not able to walk without difficulty.
Nabiganj Investment Company Limited, the property firm that had employed the injured worker, was subsequently prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive. Appearing at City of London Magistrates’ Court, the company was fined £37,500 and ordered to pay costs of £5,459.90 after pleading guilty to breaching Regulations 4(1)(a), 10, 14(1) and 16(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.
Regulation 4(1)(a) states: “No person on whom these Regulations place a duty shall appoint or engage a CDM co-ordinator, designer, principal contractor or contractor, unless he has taken reasonable steps to ensure that the person to be appointed or engaged is competent.”
Regulation 10 adds: “Every client shall ensure that every person designing the structure and every contractor who has been or may be appointed by the client, is promptly provided with pre-construction information.”
In the present case, the migrant worker had been employed by Nabiganj Investment Company Limited as a principal contractor, thereby breaching the aforementioned regulations.
Personal injury claims involving accidents in the construction industry are common in the UK, with thousands of workers claiming no win no fee injuries every year as a result of preventable accidents. Migrant workers who barely speak English are especially vulnerable on British building sites and employers must take extra care to ensure that they are protected from unnecessary risk of injury.
Speaking after the court hearing, Eileen Gascoigne, an inspector for the Health and Safety Executive, said: “A vulnerable worker was left with devastating injuries as a result of the consistently poor attitude to safety this company has displayed.
“This is an experienced property development firm, it has had previous enforcement action taken against it by the HSE relating to similar issues during construction work. Once again in avoiding its responsibilities, it has put the safety and health of at least six vulnerable workers at unnecessary risk.”
