Contractor fined after repeated warnings about fall-from-height risks

A contractor has been fined £20,000 for “a catalogue of health and safety failings” identified at a site.

Daniel Taylor Builder and Architectural Woodworker was converting a former bank into offices when it was found to have left workers at risk from falling from height and exposure to hazardous substances, according to a statement from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

At the site in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, inspectors also found inadequate welfare facilities when they visited in October 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The contractor had previously been subject to enforcement action regarding unsafe working-from-height practices on its sites and joinery workshop, the HSE said, and remedial measures had not been implemented.

During the October 2020 visit, the HSE issued the company with three prohibition notices ordering it to halt unsafe activities, as well as five improvement notices demanding action to improve the situation.

Daniel Taylor Builder and Architectural Woodworker Limited, of Congleton, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £1,507 in additional costs.

Company director and site manager David Taylor, of Congleton, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to breaching section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Taylor, 77, was fined £10 and ordered to pay £1,507 in additional costs. When setting the level of fine, the district judge took into account his early guilty plea, positive references and cooperation with the HSE, according to a statement from the safety watchdog.

After the sentencing, HSE inspector Sinead Martin said: “This type of proactive prosecution will highlight to the construction industry that HSE will not hesitate to prosecute companies for repeated breaches of the law.

“Good management of health and safety on site is crucial to the successful delivery of a construction project, and principal contractors have an important role in managing the risks of construction work and ensuring that safety measures are implemented.”

Falls from height are the biggest cause of death on construction sites in England, Scotland and Wales, causing a quarter of the fatalities recorded in the year to March 2021. Data for April 2021 to December 2021 revealed that 41 per cent of deaths in the sector were caused by a fall from a height.

The construction industry remains the most dangerous industry in which to work in England, Scotland and Wales, accounting for a quarter of all workplace fatalities in the year to March 2022.