Director Sentenced after Worker Suffers Serious Crush Injuries

The director of a construction company has been sentenced after a sub-contractor sustained serious crush injuries when a stack of plasterboards fell on him at a construction site in Thames Ditton, Surrey.

Brighton Magistrates’ Court heard that on 12 April 2019, sheets of plasterboard were being moved by sub-contractors from the ground floor to the second floor of a house which was being refurbished. The sheets of plasterboard weighed 32kg each.

There was no staircase, so the sub-contractors used an unsecured ladder to lean the plasterboard against before sliding the plasterboard up the ladder to the next floor. During this activity the plasterboard fell on the worker, fracturing his pelvis.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive revealed:

  • There was no safe system of work
  • There was a lack of supervision of workers
  • There were inadequate safeguards around stairwell openings, with scaffold boards covering some areas of the openings which created significant fall risk due to being rested on insecure scaffold poles.

Siamak Samyani the sole director of SS Reforms Limited of Eastcote Avenue, West Molesey, Surrey pled guilty to breaching Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Etc Act 1974. He was sentenced to 20 weeks in prison, received a 12-month suspension, fined £3,400 and ordered to pay costs of £600.