Firm fined £75,000 over site death
01/07/2010
The death of a man at a building site in Brighton has seen a construction company being fined £75,000.
The Brighton-based company and two of its directors were fined after being prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at the site located at 100 Buckingham Road.
Firm PIB (UK) Ltd was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,500 after pleading guilty to the breaches. The incident has also resulted in company directors Steven Moore, 44, of Falmer Road, Woodingdean and John Blankson, 55, of 27 Glen Rise, Brighton, facing legal action over health and safety breaches.
Mr Blankson, who was also the client for the project, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 20(1) (a) (b) and (c) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. He was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,465. Mr Moore was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,500 after pleading guilty to breaching section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Mr Moore was disqualified as a director for five years.
Lewes Crown Court heard how on June 29, 2008, Edward Dean, (age 24 and lived in Brighton) had been out socialising when in the early hours of June 30 he wandered on to the construction site.
PIB (UK) Ltd of 420 Falmer Road, Woodingdean, was refurbishing a large semi-detached house and turning it into five flats. The site was not properly secured, and Mr Dean was able to enter the work area. He tripped over an unprotected edge and fell 2.4m into a basement courtyard. He was found dead later in the morning.
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