Industry news
Surrey company handed huge fine
Posted Mon, 06 Aug 2012
A construction firm from Surrey has been prosecuted after an employee was nearly killed by nine tonnes of falling steel and concrete.
48-year-old Bola Akinola from Littlehampton in West Sussex sustained multiple fractures to his pelvis, leg and arm when he fell four metres with the collapsing steel and three floor planks on a site in Westerham in Kent on 9 May 2009.
Another worker managed to leap to safety and a subsequent Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that Landmark Groundworks Ltd had not adhered to construction industry established procedures.
Design proposals from two structural engineers were ignored by the Esher-based company and it has been found guilty of a breach of Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 as a result.
Landmark Groundworks Ltd was handed a fine of £110,000 and instructed to pay costs of £50,000 at Maidstone Crown Court.
Copyright Press Association 2012