Bowmer and Kirkland and its subcontractors Advance Roofing and JKW Roofing have been fined a total of £400,000 by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a director was blown from the roof of a new school building.
The accident occurred on a new three-storey teaching block at Abbotsfield School for Boys in Hillingdon, west London, on 23 February 2017. JKW director John Whitman sustained severe pelvis and back injuries after being blown from the building’s roof.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard how, on that day, Storm Doris was moving across the UK bringing gusts of wind up to 94 mph. Numerous warnings were in place on site and many activities had been suspended, but the roof works continued until the early afternoon when a gust of wind blew Whitham, 52, off the roof, along with freestanding A-frame barriers and stacks of insulation.
Bowmer and Kirkland were the principal contractor on the project. Advanced Roofing were contracted to carry out the roofing works on the project and had sub-contracted the substantive roofing works on the main building to JKW Roofing while using its own workers on other areas.
An investigation by the HSE found all three contractors had failed to ensure that a suitable and sufficient system to assess the effects of high wind when working at height was being followed. The companies had taken an informal approach to assessing weather conditions which was not in line with industry standards.
Bowmer and Kirkland Limited, of Belper, Derbyshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and were fined £350,000 and ordered to pay £6,190.28 in costs.
Advanced Roofing Limited, of Stanton-By-Dale, Derbyshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and were fined £29,300 and ordered to pay £6,187.88 in costs.
J.K.W. Roofing Services Limited, of Arnold, Nottinghamshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and received 12 month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £6,159.48 in costs.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Gabriella Dimitrov said: “Those in control of work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working and to provide the necessary information, instruction and training to the workers in the safe system of working. If a suitable safe system of work had been in place prior to the incident, the life changing injuries sustained by Mr Whitham could have been prevented.”
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The wind is a random phenomenon whose velocity can only be predicted between very wide limits, and whose peak instantaneous velocity at one point in space and time is totally unpredictable. HSE up to their usual tricks of exercising power without taking responsibility for anything.