Cheshire building contractor fined for violating Health and Safety practices

Violating Health and Safety practices in the UK is one of the most serious offences that you can do. This is the same even for contractors that are carrying out construction works. They are supposed to come up with the best safety practices that will minimize chances of accidents occurring in the construction site.

Mr. Phillip Affleck, a Cheshire contractor, had to learn this the hard way after he was fined by a UK court for not putting in place safety measures for workers on a Culcheth building site where he was the contractor. The wok involved refurbishing a former NHS building that was not being used.  A member of the pubic notified the Health and Safety Executive of the safety violations taking place at this construction site and the HSE immediately opened up investigations into the matter in May.

The findings of the investigations proved that indeed, there were no safety measures in the site. First of all, there was no convenient access to the building and workers were supposed to use ladders and planks to get in. This was very dangerous considering that there were no emergency exits from the building. HSE noted that the contractor had directed for scaffoldings to be erected for the workers to access the building.

Dust is also a common occurrence whenever there is construction work going on. Phillip Affleck had also not taken the safety of the workers seriously since he did not provide for protective wear when they are working near dust. There was a high chance for the workers to develop respiratory problems from this site.

The safety practices outlined in the law require that all the contractors in UK ensure that there is enough sanitation in the construction sites even before any work commences. This was not the case in the Culcheth building site. The workers were involved in laying bricks and ground works, meaning that their hands needed cleaning before they can take part in any other activities outside construction.

The Trafford Magistrates Court directed that proper sanitary facilities to be erected. The workers at this construction site were also to have proper resting facilities. Mr. Affleck pleaded guilty to all the charges that were leveled against him and for breaching the Regulations 22of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and also the Regulation 7 of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. His sentence attracted a fine of £4,000.

Deborah Walker, one of the Inspectors at HSE, called upon all the principal contractors in UK to put in place measures that will guarantee safety to the workers such as clean water, easy access and exit from the construction site and proper resting facilities.