Bovis fined £5k following injury to subbie operative

Bovis Lend Lease was fined £5,000 at Leeds Magistrates Court last week after pleading guilty to a breach of Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, following an injury to a subcontractor's employee on its Bridge- water Place project in Leeds, in February 2005. The company also had to pay costs of £7,632.

Acknowledging the good safety record of Bovis Lend Lease, magistrates said the company was only 20% to blame for the accident.

Magistrates stated that responsibility also lay with the subcontractor, RCG, which is not being prosecuted in this case because it has ceased trading, as well as its employee, an expe-rienced operative who had received the appropriate training in the execution of his duties.

The joiner fell 3.4m, sustaining an ankle injury while carrying out a short unplanned activity that the magistrates stated they did not believe any employer would endorse. It took place outside the agreed safe system of work for this task.

"We have an international reputation for consistently high standards of site safety and we very much regret the injury that was suffered by this subcontractor's employee," said Colin Harvey, Northern regional director of Bovis Lend Lease.

"Following the accident, we sent all HSE inspectors in the UK copies of our safety guide for subcontractors involved in building reinforced concrete frame structures and this document is now accepted as industry best practice."

[Contract Journal, 13 September 2006, p 3]