Henry targeted by HSE over ‘sustained poor performance’ before collapse
11/9/23
Henry Construction Projects was served with nine notices from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in its last weeks of trading, Construction News can reveal.
The collapsed contractor was targeted for repeated inspections by the HSE because of its poor safety performance, with inspectors issuing the nine notices between 16-26 May.
During that period, the company was issued with a £234,000 fine at court over a historic incident where a worker fell from a platform. Within a week of that sentencing, it was issued with prohibition notices relating to working at height problems at three other sites.
The £402.2m-turnover firm was the UK's 41st largest contractor, according to the CN100 2022. Prohibition notices – which usually bar work from continuing on site until specific safety concerns have been addressed – are rarely issued to major contractors.
Henry filed for administration in early June, three weeks after being hit with the court fine that related to a site in High Street Kensington, in March 2021.
In that incident, which the HSE described as "completely preventable" if correct precautions had been followed, 51-year-old Ovidiu Dobra was seriously injured after a 3-metre-high platform he had been working on (pictured above) collapsed. He was left with serious injuries to both legs, and long-term difficulties with movement, basic functions and his ability to work.
On 16 May, the same day Henry was sentenced over that incident, it was hit with two prohibition notices at a site in Southampton. One was because platforms used there did not have any guard rails or other measures to stop people falling off them.
It had also failed to ensure suitable fire detection and fire alarm systems were in place in a block where hot works were taking place, according to the notice.
The following week, on 23 May, an HSE inspector served a prohibition notice on the firm at a site in Guildford, Surrey, because a scaffold tower had been "erected by persons who were not competent to do so, and the tower was not erected in accordance with manufacturers' instructions".
On the same day, it was issued with a prohibition notice at a site in Ealing, west London, because of missing scaffold boards. "You have not ensured that work at height is properly planned, properly supervised and carried out in a manner which is so far as is reasonably practicable safe," the company was told.
An HSE spokesperson said last week: "Following a sustained period of poor performance in management of health and safety and in conjunction with the conviction, HSE undertook a series of targeted inspections across London and southern England of Henry Construction Projects Limited sites.
"HSE targeted sites based on intelligence from concerned members of the public, workers and mandatory reports required under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases & Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013."
Henry also received five improvement notices during the week of 23 May. These are when inspectors flag less serious issues and work is allowed to continue on site but the breaches must be addressed.
One notice was issued because a site manager at a job in Watford, Hertfordshire, was working with an expired qualification. "You have not provided your site manager with adequate health and safety training," the HSE told the firm.
The other four instances related to inadequate welfare facilities on sites in Newham and Hounslow in London, with a lack of fire-risk assessments also cited in three of the same notices.
Henry appointed administrators from FRP Advisory on 8 June. The insolvency practitioners started last week that the Hounslow-headquartered business faltered after being hit by inflation on fixed-price contracts and then suffered further difficulties on 31 May when a winding-up petition was served against it over a £283,000 debt.
Henry collapsed owing £43m to suppliers. This included £83,000 to the HSE, the administrators report revealed. It is not yet known how much unsecured creditors, such as the safety regulator, are likely receive as a result of the administration process.
FRP Advisory said it was unable to comment any further on the issues at Henry.
The HSE spokesperson said: "We will continue to proactively target poor performers who repeatedly breach health and safety law, including work at height.
"We also welcome reliable intelligence and encourage concerned workers and members of the public to raise issues regarding poor health and safety management using our online reporting."
Source: Construction News