HSE | An Oldham-based construction company has been fined after a bricklayer was hospitalised for a month when the floor he was working on collapsed.
On 4 June 2024 at a house under construction on Lynn Street, Oldham, the 25-year-old was bricklaying on the upper level of a house when the floor he was working on collapsed. The worker fell along with multiple concrete blocks that had been stored on the upper floor. He sustained fractures to his right leg, hip and left hand, requiring surgery and a month-long stay in hospital.
The HSE’s investigation found that Oldham Business and Construction Management Limited, as the principal contractor, had failed to properly plan, manage and monitor the construction work on site.
The floor that collapsed had been overloaded with concrete blocks and had not been constructed in accordance with the manufacturer’s design.
The investigation also identified a number of other health and safety failings at the site, including unsafe scaffolding, inadequate arrangements for work at height, a lack of fire alarms and inadequate competent site management.
As a result of these failings, HSE inspectors issued multiple enforcement notices.
Oldham Business and Construction Management Limited, of Bath Street, Oldham, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 13(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The company was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £4,883 in costs, to be paid within three years.
HSE Inspector Karen Farley said: “The injuries suffered by this worker were the consequence of fundamental failures to manage health and safety.
“Our investigation revealed that this was not an isolated failing but part of a broader pattern of poor health and safety standards across the site.
“The construction industry remains one of the highest-risk sectors and employers must ensure that work is properly planned, supervised and carried out safely.
“This incident was entirely foreseeable and could have been prevented had the floor been constructed in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions and safe systems of work been in place to ensure it was not overloaded with construction materials.”
The HSE prosecution was brought by HSE Enforcement Lawyer Arfaq Nabi and Paralegal Officer Hannah Snelling.
