A Congleton construction company has been fined £20,000 for multiple failings of health and safety at a building site in Alderley Edge.

Daniel Taylor Builder and Architectural Woodworker Limited was served with three Prohibition notices prohibiting unsafe activities and were also served with five Improvement Notices requiring the company to take remedial action to comply with the law.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspected the site where the company was working on converting an old back into offices on 9 October 2020.

HSE found many health and safety failings, including several areas where workers could have fallen from a height, a risk of exposure to hazardous substances, and inadequate welfare facilities.

A subsequent HSE investigation then found the firm had previously been the subject of enforcement action relating to unsafe work at height at both its construction sites and joinery workshop.

An image of the site - (Image - HSE)

The investigation also found company director, David Taylor, was acting as site manager at the London Road site and had failed to ensure the necessary health and safety measures were implemented to protect employees and others, despite the previous HSE interventions.

Daniel Taylor Builder and Architectural Woodworker Limited, of Wheelwrights Yard, Congleton, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

The company was fined £20,000 following its early guilty plea and ordered to pay £1,507.71 in costs at South Cheshire Magistrates' Court on 8 February 2023.

David William Taylor, of New Road, Congleton, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to breaching section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Mr. Taylor, 77, was fined £10 by the district judge taking into account the totality of sentencing this defendant as a director of the company, his early guilty plea, positive references, and his cooperation with HSE enforcement action.

He was ordered to pay £1,507.71 in costs at South Cheshire Magistrates' Court on 8 February 2023.

HSE inspector Sinead Martin said: "This type of proactive prosecution will highlight to the construction industry that HSE will not hesitate to prosecute companies for repeated breaches of the law.

"Good management of health and safety on site is crucial to the successful delivery of a construction project and principal contractors have an important role in managing the risks of construction work and ensuring that safety measures are implemented."

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