Firms fined just £65,000 following two fatalities

The question of how much a life is worth in the construction industry will be raised again after two firms were fined a total of just £65,000 following the deaths of two workers.

Eugena Ltd has pleaded guilty to a breach of duties under Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act etc 1974 and was fined a total of £40,000 with nearly  £13,000 costs at the Old Bailey.

And George Leslie, of Barrhead, Strathclyde, who admitted breaching one section of the same Act, and been fined £25,000 at Paisley Sheriff Court.

Ian Mallon was laying blockwork for Eugena at a height of about 2.5m when he fell from the unguarded edge of a scaffold work platform.

Investigation confirmed that the incomplete scaffold platform used by Mallon and his workmates had not been inspected by a competent person after its alteration.

Neil Stephens HSE principal inspector said: "This case has demonstrated that principal contractors simply cannot assume that sub- contractors, if left unsupervised, will act safely. Principal contractors must ensure that they have adequate arrangements in place to supervise the work of their sub-contractors."

Michelle Workman, the HSE inspector dealing with the case, added: "If proper supervision had been provided on site before this accident, and the scaffold platform had been inspected prior to use, then this accident could easily have been prevented."
 
George Leslie was fined at Paisley Sheriff Court over the March 2003 death of its employee Robert Murdoch, 56.

Murdoch, who with colleagues had erected a portable scaffold structure without receiving adequate training or instruction at Linwood Water Treatment Works, sustained head and spinal injuries in the fall from which he later died.