Building collapse firm ignored CDM

Prosecutions and Claims |
15.10.2007

A construction firm which ignored its duties under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (CDM) has been fined £40,000 after the collapse of a three-storey building left a worker confined to a wheelchair.

Carl Bold, a groundwork labourer, suffered crippling injuries when the extension to a Victorian terraced house collapsed, trapping him under rubble. 
In August 2004, Urbisity was converting two houses with rear extensions into apartments in Aigburth, Liverpool. The work involved excavation work close to the rear outrigger extensions, as rear lightwells to the basements were refurbished and new drainage laid.

The excavation work undermined the foundations of the extensions, which were not as deep as those of the main buildings. Trenches dug beside the outriggers  left the foundations hanging and, on 24 August, after a morning of heavy rain, the extension to one house collapsed. Bold, who was working nearby, tried to escape but tripped and was crushed by falling masonry. He suffered severe spinal injuries.

The investigating HSE inspector, Robert Hodkinson, said the accident could easily have led to fatalities. He said Urbisity had failed to carry out a structural survey at the start of the  project, as the HSE recommends.

"There were no risk assessments or method statements," said Hodkinson. "It was a CDM project but the Regulations weren't applied. There was no construction phase health and safety plan, and little information was sought by the developer, who was client and principal contractor here."

On 26 September, Urbisity was fined £40,000 plus almost £16,000 costs at Liverpool Crown Court for breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act.