A £250,000 fine has been handed out after a wall collapsed on a man in front of his wife and kids
Southwark Crown Court heard how on January 25, 2014 a family of four were hurrying along a pavement to Catford Station to shelter from a storm when a wall and hoarding was blown onto the father, causing him to lose consciousness and end up hospitalised.
The man, 45, suffered facial and skull injuries including a fractured eye socket and had to have a titanium plate inserted into his left cheek area.
The whole family including the children, four and nine at the time, remain affected by the incident.
A Health and Safety Execitive (HSE) investigation found that GLA Land Property LTD (GLAP) employed a company to manage and maintain this site.
The investigation found that GLAP failed to oversee the contract properly, resulting in the wall not being maintained. The wall developed a crack which weakened, causing the hoarding to act like a sail in strong winds, eventually leading to its collapse.
Speaking following the hearing, HSE inspector Ian Shearring said: “A set of simple arrangements to inspect and maintain the wall would have picked up on the imminent danger to any passer-by.
"Instead, a whole family was traumatised by seeing the father sustaining serious injuries from being struck by hoarding as it collapsed.
"It was only a matter of luck that no one was killed on the day outside a busy station.”
GLA Land and Property Ltd of Broadway, London, pleaded guilty under Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined a total of £250,000 and ordered to pay £14,653 in costs.
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