Industry news
Pub demolition site 'not secured'
Posted Thu, 16 Feb 2012
A contractor has been prosecuted after dangerous conditions were found at the site of a pub demolition in Dover.
Allan Smith of ATS Developments acted as the principal contractor to demolish the Royal Oak pub on Sandwich Road in Whitfield, which was bought for development on 19 April 2010. Demolition work was carried out over the following six months, Canterbury Magistrates' Court heard.
The Health and Safety Executive prosecuted Smith after a member of the public complained in October 2010 that the site was insecure and children were playing there. An inspector visited the site on 7 October 2010 to find the pub partially demolished but no fencing despite there being a public footpath across the land, the court heard. The HSE also found no asbestos survey had been carried out prior to demolition, despite it sending a written request.
Smith, of Bowling Green Lane, Deal, Kent, admitted breaching Regulation 27(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and Regulation 5 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006. He was fined £7,000 and ordered to pay £7,000 in costs.
Copyright Press Association 2012