Company and director fined after heavy pipe fractures child’s skull

Sage Homes Limited and its director were each convicted for health and safety failings after the cast iron pipe, weighing over 45kg fell onto a passing child, striking him on the head and fracturing his skull.

The incident occurred on 20 July 2021, when Sage Homes was conducting building work on an extension to a house in Totton, Hampshire – a few seconds’ walk from a local primary school. 

The court heard how a builder had broken off the pipe some days before so he could begin excavating into the concrete floor. But when a TV cable was later freed from the pipe, the top two sections fell across the pavement. The cast soil iron pipe was estimated to date from the 1930s, and both the pipe and the fixings were corroded.

In giving evidence, company director Jason Scorey insisted he could see no need to secure the pipe against the wall.

But HSE successfully argued that Scorey had failed to properly assess what was a foreseeable risk. “Properly assessing risk to workers and members of the public is a vital part of any construction project,” said investigating HSE inspector Alexander Ashen.

“It would have been a simple and inexpensive task to secure the pipe once it had been broken out at its base. The fact that the construction work was being carried out yards from a school gate at the time parents were collecting their children should have prompted even more care on the part of the duty holder.”

Sage Homes Limited and Jason Scorey were sentenced for breaches of Section 3(1) and Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, respectively.

Mr Scorey was fined £1,685, or 45 days prison term if the fine was not paid, as well as costs of £10,436. Sage Homes Limited was fined £15,000.