A property developer has been prosecuted along with two other companies after a worker was killed when a temporary platform collapsed at a construction site in south-west London.

St James Group Limited, of Berkeley House, Surrey, the project's Principal Contractor, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 22(1)(a), Construction (Design and Management) [CDM] Regulations 2007.

It was fined £600,000 with over £14,935 in costs.

Mitchellson Formwork and Civil Engineering Limited, of Mitchellson House, Berkshire, the contractors responsible for building the temporary platforms, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 13(2), of the Construction (Design and Management) [CDM] Regulations 2007.

It was fined £400,000 with over £14,935 in costs.

RGF Construction Limited, of Howard Road, Buckinghamshire, a site agent who assisted with managing the work, was found guilty earlier this year of breaching Regulations 13(2), and 28(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. It was fined £20,000.

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Southwark Crown Court heard how a carpenter and a steel-fixer were standing on a temporary wooden platform above a stairwell opening on the ninth floor of a construction site in Putney on 29 October 2012.

However, the platform suddenly gave way and the pair fell around 16 metres down the opening. Both men landed on the partly-built concrete staircase below, where the carpenter sustained fatal injuries. The steel-fixer survived the fall but was so seriously injured that it took almost three years for him to recover sufficiently to be able to return to work.

In addition, an engineer's assistant who was working in the stairwell on a lower level was hit by falling debris and also sustained serious injuries.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation discovered similar platforms had been built on other floors throughout the site by using timber joists supported by unsuitable joist hangers with plywood fixed on top. The structures, which were part of 'temporary works', were neither built to an agreed safe design, nor was the quality of the build checked by those in control of the site, even though they were crucial to the safety of workers on upper floors.

Karen Morris, HM Inspector of Health & Safety, said the risks of falling from height are well-known, including the risk of joist hanger failure.

"This tragic incident illustrates what can happen if temporary works are not properly organised," she said. "All those who have a role in planning and managing work on site must take responsibility for ensuring that serious risks are properly controlled."

(LM)