Builder fined after school wall falls

Prosecutions and Claims |
12.12.2007

A wall collapse that sent shards of glass flying into a school classroom has cost a construction company £7,607 in fines and costs. "The wall should have been propped during its construction and demolition, and the company should have either have carried out the work outside school hours or they should have reviewed public protection... prior to starting," said HSE inspector Neil Jamieson.

The accident happened at St Winefred's Catholic Primary School in south Wirral in December 2006 as workers from Clegg Building Ltd were taking down a section of an incorrectly built wall, which was part of a new classroom. The wall collapsed into a two-metre high section of steel mesh perimeter fencing, which then struck the cloakroom area of an occupied classroom, smashing the window and showering slivers of glass into the room. Fortunately, the teacher, her assistant and her 26 year-seven pupils escaped injury because they were in the middle of the room. 

Clegg admitted breaching Regulation 9(1) of the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 in that it failed to take reasonable steps to prevent a structure, which could become unstable during construction work, from accidentally collapsing. On 27 November, Chester magistrates fined it £3,200 with £4,407 costs.
 
Blaming the incident on poor planning, Jamieson said: "Cleggs should have assessed the work activities in a systematic way, so that potential hazards were identified and controlled. They should have had better arrangements in place to monitor and supervise the work on site, risk assessed the demolition of the wall and provided clear instructions to the men undertaking the work."

Clegg's managing director said his firm had learned the lessons from the incident and put in new procedures, including extra staff training, to stop anything similar happening again.