Building company fined for unusable toilets

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A Stockport construction company has been prosecuted after failing to ensure suitable welfare facilities were provided for workers on site.

Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard that R & S Builders (Mcr) Ltd had been issued with multiple Improvement Notices, following an inspection by a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector at the company’s site at Great Underbank, Stockport on 7 July 2018. The company subsequently complied with the Improvement Notices that had been served for fire safety and respiratory risks, but failed to comply with the minimum standards of health, safety and welfare on site.

An investigation by the HSE found that welfare facilities on site had been in a poor condition, in particular there being no hot or warm running water, and that the company did not provide evidence of compliance with the Improvement Notice within the deadline. R & S Builders (Mcr) Ltd was previously subject to enforcement action by HSE in 2017 that included an Improvement Notice in relation to the absence of adequate welfare provisions at a different site.

R & S Builders (Mcr) Ltd of Sovereign House, Stockport Road, Cheadle, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 21 of the Health and safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and Regulation 13(4) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The company was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,814.90.

HSE inspector Chris Brookes-Mann said after the hearing: “Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards. Furthermore, companies that fail to comply with an Improvement Notice in the time allowed can expect to be prosecuted since this is a criminal offence in its own right regardless of the circumstances under which the original Improvement Notice was served.”