Prosecutions – Shropshire School

A Shropshire boarding school has been fined £25,000 after a worker was killed while demolishing a building on the site.  The school was prosecuted after it arranged for a team of inexperienced building workers to demolish a large wooden classroom on 14 August 2007.

The HSE investigation revealed the workers had no effective plan in place and removed integral supports within the classroom's structure, causing the roof to collapse while five men were inside.  The school had arranged for a self-employed general building worker, who was undertaking some minor roofing work on the site, to carry out the work.

He asked four other self-employed building workers to assist in the demolition even though none of them had training or relevant experience. The school failed to make any reasonable enquiries into the competence of the men to undertake the demolition work prior to the work beginning.

The HSE inspector for the case said:

"… the workers should not have been put at such increased risk. Had the School taken reasonable steps to properly consider the demolition work, they would have appointed a competent and experienced contractor, and avoided the roof collapse."

"This awful event and the prosecution of the school must send a very clear message to all those who commission construction or demolition work. It must be properly planned and carried out by those with the experience and competence to do so."

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