Housebuilder and demo contractor fined £100,000

Nicholas King Homes and Henry Demolition have been fined a total of £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £17,129, after a 17-year old died when a floor he was standing on, collapsed two years ago.

The prosecution at St Albans Crown Court follows an investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) into an accident, which happened on 20 September 2001. Clayton Wiltshire, was in his first week of work as a labourer at the old Rex Cinema site in Berkhamstead, Hertfordshire. He died as a result of injuries sustained following the collapse of the first floor of a flat in which he was standing.

Nicholas King Homes of High Wycombe and Henry Demolition of Milton Keynes, contravened Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, in that they failed to ensure that persons not in their employment were not exposed to risks to their health and safety.

Nicholas King Homes was fined £50,000 with legal costs of £8,370.94. Henry Demolition was fined £50,000 with legal costs of £8,759.44.

His Honour Judge Cripps said: "There was no visible warning making clear to those wishing to explore or enter the flats, the fact that each step on the rotten floor could lead to serious injury or death. It would have been so easy to block the access steps up to the balcony and so prevent unauthorised access. No such steps had been taken."

HSE investigating inspector Trevor Tollervey said: "Clayton's tragic death illustrates the dangers involved in demolition and refurbishment work when there is a failure to implement safety precautions. Organisations involved in such work must ensure that structures are properly assessed. Safe entry into buildings must be established and employees notified of this at the start of any work. This is particularly so where inexperienced workers are involved. A failure to do so can result in risk to workers, as we have seen so sadly in this case.