Demolition firm fined for safety failures after worker badly hurt

Press and Journal

a day ago

A demolition firm has been fined after its worker suffered serious injury – the second such time it has happened.
Sylwester Zdunczyk was working for Cove-based Lawrie Demolition, removing metal sheets from a warehouse roof, when he fell 18ft and landed on a concrete floor.
The 44-year-old was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and suffered broken ribs and a broken pelvis.
It took him six months to regain fitness, although he is permanently impaired.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found his employer broke safety rules.
Lawrie Demolition has now admitted an offence at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and has been sentenced.
But it is not the first time the firm has breached safety rules.
In 2009, Valentin Taljanov was working for the company at Aberdeen Harbour when he was seriously injured by falling cast iron guttering.
The worker broke his right arm, seven ribs, and a vertebra.
He also punctured a lung and cut his head.
On that occasion, Lawrie Demolition was fined £40,000 after admitting breaching a safety regulation.
During the latest hearing, which took place earlier this week, Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how Lawrie Demolition was contracted to knock down two industrial units at Baker Hughes' former Woodside Road base in Bridge of Don in 2023.
Demolishing the north building was easy, the court heard, as it had a simple, modern design.
But things were trickier with the south building, as there was asbestos in the roof.
It meant a five-man team had to unbolt metal sheets from the roof, move them a short distance and then lower them through a hole in the skylight.
Before work began, Lawrie Demolition was supposed to put a robust safety plan in place to ensure workers did not fall.
Their idea was to put up crowd barriers around the skylight, secured with plastic ties – but the barriers were not properly fixed to the roof structure.
On May 25 2023, the team had removed four of the metal sheets without issue.
But the court heard there was 'a heated discussion' between the workers about the method of removing the sheets.
They then changed the method, which led to Mr Zdunczyk walking backwards during removal.
The court heard how, as he moved the fifth metal sheet, Mr Zdunczyk lost his balance and collided with one of the crowd barriers, which then moved out of place.
This created a gap – and Mr Zdunczyk plunged 18ft through it down to the floor, suffering severe injury and permanent impairment.
Depute fiscal David Glancy told the court: 'Mr Zdunczyk's colleagues gave him first aid and alerted the emergency services.
'He was taken by ambulance to ARI with fractured ribs and a fractured pelvis.
'Mr Zdunczyk was unable to work for six months.
'Before this incident, he loved to play football, run and swim and can no longer pursue any of those activities.
'He has returned to work, but can no longer work from height.'
In the wake of the incident, Lawrie Demolition paused all work and brought in a subcontractor to finish the job using enhanced safety techniques.
The HSE investigation questioned why Lawrie Demolition had chosen not to fix the crash barriers to the roof structure or install safety netting.
'The failure to provide step-by-step guidance was significant. There was a failure to ensure the work was properly planned and supervised,' said Mr Glancy.
Lawrie Demolition pleaded guilty to one offence of failing to plan and supervise work to ensure safety at height
Defence solicitor Mark Donaldson told the court Lawrie Demolition was part of an industry association that required it to adhere to safety audits each year.
He added: 'This was a very unusual situation.
'The company was aware that the work was physically demanding and regularly rotated staff.
'On this site was an extremely experienced team with over a decade of experience each.
'Consideration was given to the use of safety harnesses, but a decision was taken not to use them in case they became entangled.
'The crowd barriers should have been directly secured to the roof.'
Mr Donaldson added that Lawrie Demolition had boosted working-at-height training for staff since the incident and had learned lessons from it.
Because the accused in this case is a company, the only punishment available is a fine.
First, sheriffs must consider that company's annual turnover to determine what the size of the company is.
The bigger the company, the higher the fine.
Lawrie Demolition's turnover of £1.7m a year means it is classed as a 'micro' company.
Second, sheriffs check what the law says is a fair amount to fine the company for a particular offence.
This gives them a 'starting point' figure.
The sheriff can then add or subtract amounts from it if there are any aggravating or mitigating features of the offence.
In this case, the sheriff decided that the fact that Lawrie Demolition had breached safety rules previously was an aggravating factor.
The firm can then get a discount for pleading guilty and sparing a trial.
In this case, Sheriff Ian Wallace decided on a fine of £37,500.
And then a 7.5% victim surcharge – in this case £2,812.
That makes a total of £40,312.
The money is retained for use within the overall Scottish administration.
Lawrie Demolition did not respond to requests for comment.