Grangewood Builders and Trenchco Limited were both prosecuted after Romanian construction worker, Marcel Păduraru, lost the use of his legs following the incident on 05 November 2015.
Grangewood Builders had been appointed as principal contractor to carry out a £5 million refurbishment scheme near Buckingham Palace on Chapel Road, London. The company had selected Trenchco to carry out specialised demolition work at the site.
While working at the site, Mr Păduraru fell onto and then through a fragile plastic skylight into a basement over three metres below. He suffered a severed spine and will not regain the use of his legs. He was 30-years-old at the time of the incident.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that, despite work being carried out directly by the site skylight, neither company checked if it was fragile or took action to stop people falling through it. In addition, neither company had ensured he work was adequately planned and, as a result, safe systems of work were not identified and implemented. Workers had been put at risk from construction activities at the site ranging from demolishing a roof without edge protection to manually handling wood beams weighing an estimated 200kg.
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HSE's investigation also uncovered that the Trenchco supervisor directly controlling the work had no formal training relating to supervision and some of the workers, including the Romanian victim, had to rely on unofficial interpreters to pass on instructions and tell them what the health and safety records contained.
Grangewood Builders Limited of Lionel Road, Canvey Island, Essex pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 13(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. It was fined £270,000 with over £7,025 in costs.
Trenchco Limited of Clewer Crescent, Harrow Weald, Middlesex, was also fined £270,000 with over £7,025 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 15(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.
HSE inspector Andrew Verrall-Withers said: "The risks relating to fragile skylights being fallen through and the simple solutions to avoid this are well known. The failings at the site were not limited to the unprotected plastic skylight. Other activities such as the demolishing of a roof without edge protection could also have resulted in a serious incident.
"While these companies may have wanted health and safety compliance, their failure to pay enough attention to their actual performance at the site resulted in a tragedy occurring. No one should go to work and return unable to walk again."
(LM/MH)
