A construction company that had already been served with an improvement notice to make a building site secure has been fined £10,000 with £6,668 costs after a two-year-old rode his bike over an open manhole.

The child fell into the drain but was not seriously hurt.

360 Property Ltd was the principal contractor for the site, a new build housing development at Oak Road, Blaina in South Wales. An improvement notice had been served on the site by a Health & Safety Executive Inspector when site security issues that had been raised by the Inspector were not addressed.

Newport Magistrates’ Court heard on 20 August how, between 22 January this year and 10 June the construction site was inadequately secured. On 21 May, the child had gained access to the site and was riding his bike when he fell into a drain, the cover of which had been removed.

360 Property was fined a total of £10,000 and ordered to pay £6,668.15 in costs after pleading guilty to two offences under Section 27(2) of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2007 and Section 18(2) of the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015 – effectively one offence split by the change in regulations.

HSE Inspector David Kirkpatrick said afterwards: “It is absolutely imperative that construction companies adequately secure their construction sites to prevent unauthorised access. Construction sites can contain hazards that children and vulnerable people may not fully appreciate.”

Click here for more information about safety on construction sites.