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The area of Oxford Street where a window cleaner fell from a ledge, injuring a shopper
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University fined over window cleaner fall
Worker fell on to Oxford Street, injuring passing shopper
A LEADING arts college has been fined the maximum possible penalty after a window cleaner fell off his ladder hospitalising a shopper in Oxford Street.
The University of the Arts was fined £20,000 at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in Horseferry Road after a contracted cleaner plunged into busy Oxford Street.
Jeremy Davenport suffered multiple injuries including a shattered heel and a broken pelvis when he fell more than five metres from a ladder outside the university’s fashion college in John Prince’s Street.
His ladder struck shopper Desislava Ilieva leaving her hospitalised with severe head and back injuries, the court heard.
The University of the Arts London, a consortium of six colleges including Camberwell College of Arts and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety Act.
As well as the fine, two contractors were each fined £7,500.
HSE inspector Dominic Long said: “This case should act as a wake-up call to all firms engaged in working at height to properly consider the serious risks involved.
“This was an accident that very nearly killed a young man and a member of the public.
“The accident happened on one of the busiest shopping streets in the UK and it was sheer luck that more people were not killed or injured. It was entirely preventable – had the contractors and the university co-operated with each other in assessing the risks and planning the work being carried out it is very likely that this accident would have been avoided.” He added: “Every year people working at height lose their lives or suffer serious injury and firms need to exercise sufficient control to prevent this sort of thing happening – including carrying out a proper risk assessment.”
A spokesman for the college said: “Although full and stringent health and safety systems were in place, there was, on this isolated occasion, an unfortunate breakdown of communication within the college, which meant that normal procedures were not activated.
“As a result, external contractors carried out work in an unsafe way. The college accepts its responsibilities in this matter and since June 2004 has put in place further measures to prevent such an accident ever happening again.”
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