2nd February 2018

£45k fine for CDM 2015 breach

A principal contractor has recently been fined £45,000 for a CDM 2015 breach, after a roller shutter door fell down during its removal, causing severe damage to a high street market stall in Walthamstow.

Employees of construction firm – Flex D B Construction Ltd were engaged in removing a roller shutter door on the boundary of a site based on the High Street, Walthamstow. During this activity, however, the door fell out and onto the pavement, badly damaging a market stall. Fortunately, in this case, there were no injuries, but given the high street location of the works – this could quite easily have resulted in a catastrophic event to members of the public who were passing at the time.

No risk assessment

The HSE visited the site following the incident, and during their investigation, the following catalogue of errors was uncovered:-

• There was no risk assessment for the task of removing the roller shutter door
• The site manager was not even on site when the incident occurred – meaning that there was no supervision of the workers
• The site issues could have easily been rectified by appropriately planning, managing and monitoring of the construction work.

In Court

Flex D B Construction Ltd of Rydal Gardens, London was found guilty of breaching Regulation 13 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015  (CDM 2015), and was fined £45,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,064 and a victim surcharge of £170.

After the hearing, the HSE inspectors involved in the prosecution commented: “Those in control of work have a responsibility to plan, manage and monitor safe methods of working.

“There was no risk assessment or method statement for the task of removing this roller shutter door and it is fortunate that no one was injured.”