Demolition Company Fined for Health and Safety Violations
In the West Midlands, there was an accident in which a young man lost his arm. The incident happened during the demolition of the Grand Cinema in Cambridgeshire. The young worker lost his arm due to the incident in 2010. He was 19 at the time. He was loading debris into a hydraulic excavator when it accidentally swung around, hitting him and crushing his arm between what was left of the building. The arm was lost up to the elbow due to the extreme damage he suffered.
The HSE conducted health and safety audits to determine what happened. It was found that the operator did not switch the ignition off when he left the seat. The coat he was wearing was caught. This is why the side arm was turned, allowing it to hit the teenager. The court decided the firm in charge of the demolition should have protected the site better because there was definitely no workstation risk assessment of the workers on the ground surrounding such large equipment.
The demolition company has to pay £4,000 in fines along with additional costs. They were said to be in breach of the regulation 37(1) of the safety and health act created in 1974. This is the portion of the regulations that addresses construction based on design and management. This was updated in 2007 to protect workers on construction sites because construction is one of the industries where many workers tend to have major and minor injuries, and death.
