A building company has been fined after a demolition worker suffered serious injuries in a fall from a platform in London’s Kensington.
Ovidiu Dobra was working for Henry Construction Projects Ltd at a building site on Kensington High Street when the incident happened on 2 March 2021.
Dobra, a Romanian national who was 51 at the time, was working on a 10ft-high platform when it collapsed. He sustained serious injuries to both legs which has left him with ongoing long-term difficulties with movement, basic functions and ability to work.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found Henry Construction Projects Ltd failed to take appropriate precautions to ensure the safety of persons working at height.
Henry Construction Projects Ltd, of Church Road, Cranford, Hounslow, London, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
The company was fined £234,000 and ordered to pay £12,369 costs at Westminster Magistrates Court on 16 May 2023.
HSE inspector Saif Deen said: “Falls from height are one of the biggest causes of workplace fatalities and major injuries.
“This incident was completely preventable.
“Employers must control the risk of working at height to ensure that it is carried out in a manner which is so far as is reasonably practicable safe.”
