Rotherham developer fined for unsafe site practice

A Rotherham businessman who ignored warnings from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) over poor standards on his construction site has been fined £5,000.

Mir Baz Khan pleaded guilty to breaching the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

In addition to the £5,000 fine, he was ordered to pay costs of £3,000 at Rotherham magistrates' court on Friday.

The prosecution described three visits made over an eight-month period by HSE inspectors to a site where Khan was developing apartments. The visits resulted in the site being closed on each occasion.

Advice and information was given to Khan but he continued to operate the site without effective site safety management.

There was a lack of proper toilets and eating facilities, as well as serious lapses in the standards of scaffolding, electrical installations and fire precautions, which put at risk workers' safety.

The HSE said that safety concerns had been raised by others directly with Khan before the visits, but these also went unheeded.

HSE inspector Rob Cooper said that the safety body had gone to great lengths to help Khan, but that “he failed repeatedly to act upon the good advice he was given”.

Cooper added: “If he had employed professionals to manage his site he could have avoided the significant fine awarded against him today. This would have made not only good safety sense but also good business sense. As a result of that poor judgment, Mr Khan now has a criminal record.”