The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) identified a number of concerns at the new-build development near Cinderford, Gloucestershire in December 2013. When inspectors visited the site on Hudson Lane, Buckshaft, where local firm KW Bell Group Ltd was putting up five new homes, they found an unsupported excavation for a new sewer and a lack of hot running water and washing facilities for the workers.
HSE served an improvement notice requiring urgent welfare improvements. A Prohibition Notice was also served to stop any further excavation work with immediate effect until the excavations were properly supported.
Cheltenham Magistrates this week heard that the firm was building five homes at the site, work that commenced in April 2013 and was overseen by 74-year-old Keith Bell.
Both KW Bell Group Ltd and Keith Bell himself accepted that welfare and safety standards at the site fell short and the offences had been committed with the consent, connivance or was attributable to the neglect of Keith Bell.
KW Bell Group Ltd, of Whimsey Industrial Estate, Steam Mills Road, Cinderford, was fined a total of £4,000 and ordered to pay £765 in costs after pleading guilty to two separate breaches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.
Keith Bell, of Elton, Gloucestershire was fined £9,000 with £3,502 costs after also pleading guilty to the same breaches.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Sue Adsett said: “The standards I saw at the Hudson Lane development were poor. The excavation work, in particular, was a major cause for concern because there was clear evidence of excavation entry without adequate precautions. The consequences of the sides of the excavation collapsing on someone could have been devastating, and precautions, such as a trench box, could have easily been provided mentioned in the company’s own method statement.
“The welfare failings – no toilet or hand washing facilities for four months worth of construction work – were particularly disappointing given previous improvement notices served by HSE on the subject at other sites. Construction workers need access to hot running water and washing facilities in order to remove potentially harmful dirt and dust before they eat and drink. It is a clear legal requirement, and both parties should have known that as experienced developers.”
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