Construction company fined after member of public drowned

1 Jun 2017 05:52 PM

A Glasgow based construction company has been fined after the death of an 83-year old man in Kirkcaldy.

Kirkcaldy Sherriff Court heard that in early January 2015 an elderly gentlemen who suffered from a number of age-related illnesses, walked onto the construction site which was closed for the holidays.

While on the site operated by Sandford Park Ltd he fell into a flooded excavation and died from drowning.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Sandford Park Ltd failed to install the appropriate level of fencing around the site to prevent members of the public including vulnerable adults and children from accessing the construction site.

Sandford Park Ltd of St Vincent Street, Glasgow pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 22(1) (l) of the Construction (Design and management) Regulations 2007, and the company has been fined £110,000.

Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector Gillian Anderson said: “This tragic incident could have been prevented, had the company installed a continuous fence around the site.”

Notes to Editors:

  1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. hse.gov.uk[1]
  2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: legislation.gov.uk/ link to external website[2]
  3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk