Building firm told to pay £200k over concrete block death at the Crick
A CONSTRUCTION firm has been ordered to pay more than £200,000 after a former City worker-turnedscaffolder was crushed to death by a falling concrete block.
Richard Laco, 31, died when a stair landing he was hoisting into position plummeted 20 feet and he was dragged into its path. The former futures trader turned to construction after losing his job in the financial crash.
He had been working on the £600 million Francis Crick Institute medical research centre in King’s Cross for steel fabricator CMF Ltd on November 6, 2013. At Southwark crown court, the company, a sub-contractor of Laing O’Rourke, was fined £185,000 and ordered to pay £20,606 after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found there was no safe system of work in place for the installation of the staircases at the Institute, which opened last year. The agency also found CMF, which is based in Feltham, had failed to appropriately supervise this work activity.
An inquest into Mr Laco’s death in 2015 heard that the 1.2-tonne stair landing had fallen after slipping loose from a rope. It was told the tragedy had triggered a review of procedures that altered the way huge staircase “landing” slabs were hoisted into place.
Mr Laco, of Hendon, had a first-class degree in banking, finance and economics and was fluent in four languages. His LinkedIn profile showed he been a futures trader at Amplify Trading, then a department manager at Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Stephen Farthing said: “This incident could have been prevented if the company had properly planned the lifting process before work had begun. Duty holders have the responsibility of ensuring that safe and suitable lifting plans are in place before carrying out any work involved with heavy loads.”