Firms fined after worker killed unloading glass panes

A contractor and client have been fined and a company director given a suspended prison sentence after a worker was crushed to death in Birmingham.

Tawanda Chamwandayita, 37, died on 26 October 2017 when 17 glass panes fell on him while he was unloading a shipping container from a lorry on a job.

A statement from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said its own investigators, alongside the West Midlands Police, found that the unloading was not properly planned, supervised or performed safely.

Principal contractor Evergreen Construction, based in Ilford, east London, was found guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

It was fined £115,000 and ordered to pay £52,561.96 in costs at Birmingham Crown Court.

The client, Leyton Homes (Perry Barr), registered to an address in Birmingham, was found guilty of breaching the same legislation. It was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £55,084.67 in costs.

The HSE statement noted that Leyton Homes managing director Jalal Rana, “watched the glass be unloaded from the lorry but did nothing to ensure systems were in place to protect the workers”.

Rana, of Walsall Road, Birmingham, was handed a suspended nine-month prison sentence and fined £57,171.95.

“The defendants failed to assess the risk of workers falling from the lorry and the risk from large and unsecured items falling from the lorry onto workers while unloading,” said the HSE.

It stated that “inexperienced and vulnerable workers”, some of whom were just 17 years old, were working unsupervised in dangerous conditions with “inadequate equipment and without any planning or risk assessment in place”.

HSE inspector Edward Fryer said: “This case highlights the importance of engaging competent contractors and making sure that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined.”

He added: “Management arrangements need to be clear between clients, contractors and principal contractors so that health and safety arrangements can be properly planned, coordinated and implemented.

“This was a wholly preventable incident which led to the death of Tawanda Chamwandayita in tragic circumstances.”

HSE data on work-related fatal injuries shows that construction remains the most dangerous industry in the UK, accounting for 24.4 per cent of all incidents in 2021/22.