Antonio Rodrigues, 55, fell from a scaffold platform through an unglazed window
\nLima Construction Limited was principal contactor at a redevelopment site in south west London
\nFalls from height remain leading cause of workplace injury and death<\/p>\n
A construction company has\u00a0been fined\u00a0after one of its employees was killed when he fell through an unglazed window opening.<\/p>\n
Antonio Rodrigues, 55, had been working for Lima Construction Limited, the principal contractor on a project to redevelop a former department store on the High Street in New Malden, into a mixture of commercial and residential units.<\/p>\n
On 27 July 2022, Mr Rodrigues, who was working as a labourer on the site, fell from an external scaffolding platform through an unglazed window void, landing on an internal concrete ground floor more than three metres below.\u00a0 Although he was taken to hospital Mr Rodrigues died from his injuries several days later on 1 August.<\/p>\n
Police bodycam footage of the openings including the door in the centre which Mr Rodrigues fell through<\/p>\n
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that in one wall, window voids had been created to install glazed \u2018Juliet\u2019 doors. However, when the doors were delivered it was found some had damaged glazing panels so were not installed. Although the company recognised that the four unglazed window voids created a risk to workers on the scaffolding platform \u2013 falling from height through the voids \u2013 it was only in the hours after Mr Rodrigues fell that protective boarding was installed.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The HSE investigation identified it was reasonably practicable for boarding or additional inside scaffolding guard rails to have been installed over the window voids to prevent falls from height as soon as they had been created.<\/p>\n
The door and the concrete ground below it<\/p>\n
The door with the boarding added within hours after the fall<\/p>\n
The company had also not ensured that legally required weekly scaffolding inspections had been carried out after 5 July 2022, so the opportunity for identification of the risks posed by the unglazed window voids by a competent scaffolding inspector was lost.<\/p>\n
Lima Construction Limited, of\u00a0Apsley Road, New Malden, pleaded guilty to contravening\u00a0Regulation 13(1) of The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. It\u00a0was fined\u00a0\u00a350,000 and ordered to pay costs of \u00a311,347 at\u00a0Westminster Magistrates Court on 18 June 2026.<\/p>\n
HSE inspector Andrew Verrall-Withers said:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThis is a case where a company who generally tried to have good standards of health and safety, failed to react effectively to an unusual situation and there were tragic consequences.<\/p>\n \u201cFalls from height are one of the leading causes of workplace fatalities and major injuries in the UK.\u00a0 Employers and those in control of any work at height activity should ensure a sensible, pragmatic approach when considering precautions for work at height.<\/p>\n \u201cAs there was no CCTV and nobody witnessed the incident, we will never know exactly what caused Mr Rodrigues to fall. But if the boards added shortly afterwards had been in place, then there would have been no opening for him to fall through in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n The HSE\u2019s investigation was\u00a0carried out\u00a0by HM inspector\u00a0Andrew Verrall-Withers,\u00a0and\u00a0the prosecution\u00a0was brought by HSE lawyers\u00a0Iain Jordan and Tom Ledden-Rocks, and paralegal\u00a0Anushka Lulith.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Further information:<\/p>\n The Health and Safety Executive<\/a>\u202f(HSE) is Britain\u2019s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We\u00a0are dedicated\u00a0to protecting people and\u00a0places, and\u00a0helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.<\/p>\n More information about the\u202flegislation<\/a>\u202freferred to in this case is available.<\/p>\n Further details on the latest\u202fHSE news releases<\/a>\u202fis available.<\/p>\n Guidance on working at height is available at Working at height \u2013 HSE<\/a> and further guidance on construction can be found at\u00a0Get started \u2013 HSE<\/a>.<\/p>\n HSE does not pass sentences, set\u00a0guidelines\u00a0or collect any fines imposed. Relevant sentencing guidelines must\u00a0be followed\u00a0unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so.\u202fThe sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences in England and Wales can be found\u202fhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Antonio Rodrigues, 55, fell from a scaffold platform through an unglazed window Lima Construction Limited was principal contactor at a redevelopment site in south west London Falls from height remain leading cause of workplace injury and death A construction company has\u00a0been fined\u00a0after one of its employees was killed when he fell through an unglazed window…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.safetyphoto.co.uk\/safety_news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2329"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.safetyphoto.co.uk\/safety_news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.safetyphoto.co.uk\/safety_news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.safetyphoto.co.uk\/safety_news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.safetyphoto.co.uk\/safety_news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2329\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.safetyphoto.co.uk\/safety_news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.safetyphoto.co.uk\/safety_news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.safetyphoto.co.uk\/safety_news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}