Worker left paralysed by 7.3m fall

Jocelyn Dorrell | Prosecutions and Claims |
24.10.2008

Magistrates have imposed fines and costs totalling £44,500 on two building firms after a worker was paralysed from the waist down after falling two storeys.

The accident happened in January 2007 at a construction site on Grosvenor Street, London W1, where two buildings were being converted into one.

Workers were using a hoist to lift a steel support structure into place from the ground floor, when the structure became stuck. When it was freed, it moved very quickly, hitting the worker and dragging him through a hole in the floor.

He fell 7.3 metres and landed on the ground floor.

TJ Myles & Co (Contractors) of Hillingdon and Crispin & Borst, based in Watford, were found guilty of breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act respectively.

City of London magistrates fined TJ Myles £20,000 plus £7339 costs. Crispin & Borst received a £10,000 fine with £7155 costs.