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A Leyton building firm has been fined after a labourer suffered multiple leg fractures in a fall when a newly-built first floor collapsed under the weight of concrete blocks weighing some 1.6 tonnes.The 48 year-old casual labourer fell three metres to the ground at the site in Harpers Yard, Ruskin Road, Tottenham, on 14th September 2012, with the concrete blocks falling around him.
He sustained serious breaks in the lower leg bones and needed a major operation and a skin graft. He still cannot walk properly and is unable to return to work.
A colleague at ground level narrowly escaped being hit.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which investigated the incident, found Cosmos Builders 88 Ltd had allowed the load capacity of the floor to be exceeded by seven times.
HSE prosecuted the building firm at Westminster Magistrates' Court after finding a series of flaws in the construction work and numerous risks of falling from height faced by workers at the site.
The court heard that instead of laying three courses of blocks onto joist hangers, the first floor had been loaded with two piles, each of 88 concrete blocks weighing 1.6 tonnes. The labourer was piling up the blocks on the first floor and without the vital strengthening block work, the collapse was inevitable.
Cosmos Builders was aware of the correct construction method, as eight previous houses on site had been properly completed, but had gone ahead regardless to 'keep the workers busy'.
HSE inspectors also found poor management had led to builders had been put in unnecessary danger by being told to work at height in areas where there were no safety measures in place. When questioned at the time, the company said they wanted to keep the workers busy while awaiting for scaffolders to arrive.
Cosmos Builders 88 Ltd, of Elm Park Road, Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, was fined a total of £6,000 and ordered to pay £4,000 in costs after pleading guilty to a breach of the Work at Height Regulations and a separate breach of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations.
(CD/MH)
