Modern Construction fined £5k after man burned

A Bexley construction firm has been fined £5,000 following an incident in which a member of the public was badly burned.

Modern Construction Builders was also order to pay £3,800 costs at City of London Magistrates' Court yesterday (Wednesday) after it was found guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work, etc., Act 1974.

The case related to an accident that occurred on 31 January 2001, when a 20-year-old man was badly burned after falling into an exposed shallow pit containing boiling water.

The victim was walking with friends on a housing estate in Thamesmead, when the thick steam leaking from an underground pipe of the district heating system obscured the footpath on which they were walking. After falling into the boiling water, the man then dived into a canal to cool down, but still suffered serious burns that required surgery.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) said that although the company had taken measures to protect the public from the boiling water, hazard fencing surrounding the site had been vandalised earlier that evening, so the shallow pit containing the leaking water had no additional protective barrier. 

Alec Ferguson, HSE's investigating inspector, said: "If a small child had fallen into the excavation, they could have been killed. It is important that on even small construction jobs, risks are properly evaluated and adequate protective measures taken."