A company in Derbyshire has appeared in court after an incident which saw a two-storey portable building collapsing whilst 30 children and parents were gathered in the lower room.
The incident occurred at Derbyshire’s Ashbourne Elim Pentecostal Church when two volunteers – one partially sighted – were working in the upper cabin.
South Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court heard that, in September 2013, Relocatable Building Systems Ltd had refurbished and installed the two cabins, however the following month they both fell when a bolt on the jacking leg of the bottom unit sheared off. The collapse occurred when the top part of the leg fell out of the wooden frame, finally coming to a halt on the roof of the lower unit. One of the volunteers, who had been packing for a foodbank project, suffered a bruised arm and, even though nobody else was injured, all were badly shaken by the incident. Senior pastor Reverend Ben Brown described it as a ‘miracle’ that the lower cabin hadn’t collapsed on them.
An investigation was launched by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident. It found that the firm had refurbished the buildings prior to their installation at the church. New inner parts of the jacking legs had been installed but the original pins could not be fitted due to the drilled holes being too big. Smaller bolts, not designed for this purpose were used instead, making it inevitable that they would fall at some point in the future.
The HSE issued an Improvement Notice to the company which required it to develop safe systems of work to make sure that all refurbished buildings were safe. The two cabins at the church were both repaired and reinstalled.
Relocatable Building Systems Ltd was fined a total of £8,000 along with costs of £1,589 after it admitted to two breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
Senior Pastor, Rev Ben Brown, whose wife and two-year-old son were in the lower room at the time of the incident, said: “It was a complete miracle that it did not fall further but came to rest where it did. Another half inch and the consequences would have been devastating. I think someone was certainly looking after us that day.
“It was horrific. The community’s confidence in the church was destroyed through no fault of our own and we had to build that trust back up again. There is still some suspicion and a few people still refuse to go in the buildings, even though they’ve been back in place for over a year. There’s no doubt our relationship with the community suffered as a result of what happened.”