AN Altrincham company has been fined £40,000 for safety failings at a building site in town which put the lives of the its workers and the passing public at risk.

Altin Homes Limited was running the building works to redevelop a former petrol station on Woodlands Road into houses and apartments.

Building blocks had collapsed on the site in June 2014, spilling out onto the pavement and cycle lane on Woodlands Road. This incident brought the company to the attention of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

When HSE investigated, it was noted that there were other poorly stored blocks on site which were at risk of also crashing through the hoarding. The company was told to remove them as soon as possible to reduce this risk.

The HSE inspector served two Prohibition Notices and two Improvement Notices, along with a Notification of Contravention during the first site visits.

Trafford Magistrates’ Court heard that some of the issues had been satisfactorily dealt with by Altin Homes following HSE’s first intervention but on a second visit a fortnight later, they had failed to remove the unsafe blocks which had caused the original incident, ‘ignoring the recommendations of the inspector and putting own workers and members of the public at continual risk’.

Altin Homes were charged with failing to protect the safety of their employees, failure to protect the safety of others including subcontractors and members of the public and one count of failing to plan, manage and monitor construction work so that it was carried out in a safe manner.

Altin Homes Limited, of Woodlands Road, pleaded guilty at Trafford Magistrates Court and was fined £40,000, with a further £3,000 in court costs.

HSE inspector Matt Greenly: “Altin Homes Limited failed in their duty to protect their workers, subcontractors and members of the public passing by this site from a foreseeable risk of serious harm.

“Luckily no one was injured when the blocks fell through the site hoarding but, given the size and weight of the building blocks that fell onto the pavement and highway, there was the potential to cause serious injury or even death to both employees and the general public. It was nothing other than good fortune that no pedestrians were passing along the pavement when the blocks fell.”