IN THE COURTS IN THE COURTS


CONSTRUCTION CLIENT SENTENCED AFTER WORKER FOUND DEAD a safe handhold.


A construction client has been handed a suspended prison sentence after a worker was found dead on a building site in London.


Moses Meisels received a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for one year, and was ordered to pay £10,000 in costs City of London Magistrates Court due to his role in the incident.


The Metropolitan Police discovered the man’s body at the site of a synagogue development at Upper Clapton Road, in Hackney, in December 2018.


Although the worker had died as a result of natural causes, subsequent inspections by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed multiple life-threatening safety failures at the site.


Moses Meisels was overseeing major structural work to enlarge the synagogue, but he repeatedly ignored warnings about dangerous practices – putting construction workers at serious risk of fatal falls.


Following the discovery of the man’s body, HSE inspectors conducted four separate visits in a five-month period, where they uncovered a catalogue of serious failures including: • Workers operating on the roof beyond the protection of scaffolding edge barriers.


• Large, unprotected holes in the ground floor creating fall risks into the basement below.


• A single unsecured ladder as the only access to the first floor, which didn’t extend far enough to provide


• Construction waste dangerously stacked in the front garden.


The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 Regulation 2 defines a client as “any person for whom a project is carried out”. HSE guidance states that commercial clients have a crucial influence over how projects are run, including the management of health and safety risks. Commercial clients must make suitable arrangements for managing their project, enabling those carrying it out to manage health and safety risks in a proportionate way.


At City of London Magistrates Court, Meisels of Gilda Crescent, Stoke Newington, pleaded guilty to breaching Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. He received a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for one year, and was ordered to pay £10,000 in costs.


HSE inspector David King said: “It is essential that clients must make suitable arrangements for managing a project, including the allocation of sufficient time and other resources.


“Clients should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action if they fail to ensure their construction projects meet the required standards.”


This prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Rebecca Schwartz and paralegal officer David Shore.


PLASTICS FIRM FINED FOLLOWING FATAL MACHINERY ACCIDENT


A plastics conversion company based in Derbyshire has been fined £277,500 after an employee sustained fatal injuries when he became trapped in the moving parts of an unguarded machine.


Paul Whalley, 46, was employed by Reflex Flexible Packaging Ltd at their factory on Amber Drive, Langley Mill, when the incident occurred.


On 29 May 2020, Mr Whalley entered an opening in the side of a plastic conversion machine that permitted whole-body access to dangerous moving parts. The area contained several unguarded mechanisms, and Mr Whalley became trapped in the machine.


Despite efforts by the emergency services, including cutting conveyor belts and rollers to free him, he sadly died at the scene from crush asphyxia.


An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Reflex Flexible Packaging Ltd failed to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment


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for operation of the machine. The company had not installed appropriate guarding to prevent access to dangerous parts and had no written safe systems of work or isolation procedures in place.


HSE guidance states that employers must take effective measures to prevent access to dangerous parts of machinery. This typically involves fixed guarding, but where routine access is required, interlocked guards may be needed to stop movement before a person can reach the danger zone.


Reflex Flexible Packaging Ltd, of Hamilton Way, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.


The company was fined £277,500 and ordered to pay £20,000 in costs at Derby Crown Court on 5 November 2025.


This prosecution was brought by HSE Enforcement Lawyer Edward Parton and Paralegal Officer Rebecca Withell.


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