Demolition firm fined for safety failures after worker badly hurt
Sylwester Zdunczyk was working for Cove-based Lawrie Demolition, removing metal sheets from a warehouse roof, when he fell 18ft and landed on a concrete floor.
The 44-year-old was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and suffered broken ribs and a broken pelvis.
It took him six months to regain fitness, although he is permanently impaired.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found his employer broke safety rules.
Lawrie Demolition has now admitted an offence at Aberdeen Sheriff Court and has been sentenced.
But it is not the first time the firm has breached safety rules.
In 2009, Valentin Taljanov was working for the company at Aberdeen Harbour when he was seriously injured by falling cast iron guttering.
The worker broke his right arm, seven ribs, and a vertebra.
He also punctured a lung and cut his head.
On that occasion, Lawrie Demolition was fined £40,000 after admitting breaching a safety regulation.
During the latest hearing, which took place earlier this week, Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard how Lawrie Demolition was contracted to knock down two industrial units at Baker Hughes' former Woodside Road base in Bridge of Don in 2023.
Demolishing the north building was easy, the court heard, as it had a simple, modern design.
But things were trickier with the south building, as there was asbestos in the roof.
It meant a five-man team had to unbolt metal sheets from the roof, move them a short distance and then lower them through a hole in the skylight.
Before work began, Lawrie Demolition was supposed to put a robust safety plan in place to ensure workers did not fall.
Their idea was to put up crowd barriers around the skylight, secured with plastic ties – but the barriers were not properly fixed to the roof structure.
On May 25 2023, the team had removed four of the metal sheets without issue.
But the court heard there was 'a heated discussion' between the workers about the method of removing the sheets.
They then changed the method, which led to Mr Zdunczyk walking backwards during removal.
The court heard how, as he moved the fifth metal sheet, Mr Zdunczyk lost his balance and collided with one of the crowd barriers, which then moved out of place.
This created a gap – and Mr Zdunczyk plunged 18ft through it down to the floor, suffering severe injury and permanent impairment.
Depute fiscal David Glancy told the court: 'Mr Zdunczyk's colleagues gave him first aid and alerted the emergency services.
'He was taken by ambulance to ARI with fractured ribs and a fractured pelvis.
'Mr Zdunczyk was unable to work for six months.
'Before this incident, he loved to play football, run and swim and can no longer pursue any of those activities.
'He has returned to work, but can no longer work from height.'
In the wake of the incident, Lawrie Demolition paused all work and brought in a subcontractor to finish the job using enhanced safety techniques.
The HSE investigation questioned why Lawrie Demolition had chosen not to fix the crash barriers to the roof structure or install safety netting.
'The failure to provide step-by-step guidance was significant. There was a failure to ensure the work was properly planned and supervised,' said Mr Glancy.
Lawrie Demolition pleaded guilty to one offence of failing to plan and supervise work to ensure safety at height
Defence solicitor Mark Donaldson told the court Lawrie Demolition was part of an industry association that required it to adhere to safety audits each year.
He added: 'This was a very unusual situation.
'The company was aware that the work was physically demanding and regularly rotated staff.
'On this site was an extremely experienced team with over a decade of experience each.
'Consideration was given to the use of safety harnesses, but a decision was taken not to use them in case they became entangled.
'The crowd barriers should have been directly secured to the roof.'
Mr Donaldson added that Lawrie Demolition had boosted working-at-height training for staff since the incident and had learned lessons from it.
Because the accused in this case is a company, the only punishment available is a fine.
First, sheriffs must consider that company's annual turnover to determine what the size of the company is.
The bigger the company, the higher the fine.
Lawrie Demolition's turnover of £1.7m a year means it is classed as a 'micro' company.
Second, sheriffs check what the law says is a fair amount to fine the company for a particular offence.
This gives them a 'starting point' figure.
The sheriff can then add or subtract amounts from it if there are any aggravating or mitigating features of the offence.
In this case, the sheriff decided that the fact that Lawrie Demolition had breached safety rules previously was an aggravating factor.
The firm can then get a discount for pleading guilty and sparing a trial.
In this case, Sheriff Ian Wallace decided on a fine of £37,500.
And then a 7.5% victim surcharge – in this case £2,812.
That makes a total of £40,312.
The money is retained for use within the overall Scottish administration.
Lawrie Demolition did not respond to requests for comment.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
12 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Doctor 'drowned four-year-old daughter at Airbnb then staged her death'
Doctor Neha Gupta, 36, allegedly orchestrated the drowning of her own daughter Aria during a family trip to South Florida - and now faces a first-degree murder charge A four-year-old girl's tragic death at a Florida holiday rental has now turned into a chilling murder investigation - with her own mother, a pediatrician, accused of staging the scene to look like an accident. Dr Neha Gupta, 36, allegedly orchestrated the drowning of her daughter Aria during a family trip to South Florida, authorities say. The Oklahoma-based doctor was arrested this week in her hometown of Oklahoma City and now faces a first-degree murder charge out of Miami-Dade County. According to an affidavit filed by a homicide detective, Gupta "attempted to conceal the killing of the deceased victim by staging an accidental drowning within the swimming pool" of the Airbnb property in El Portal, just north of Miami. Officials claim she tried to pass the child's death off as a tragic pool accident in the early morning hours of June 27. Gupta allegedly told police that she and Aria were asleep in a bedroom when a strange noise woke her around 3.20am. That's when she claims she noticed the sliding door to the patio was ajar - and moments later, found her daughter face-down in the deep end of the pool. She said she panicked, tried to save the girl, but couldn't swim and was unable to pull her out. Emergency responders rushed to the scene and performed CPR, but the child was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital before sunrise. But detectives were not convinced by Gupta's story. After the incident, she fled Florida and returned to Oklahoma - a move prosecutors now say was an attempt to dodge prosecution. She is currently being held without bond in the Oklahoma County Jail while Florida authorities seek her extradition. A doctor who performed an autopsy at the medical examiner's office did not find water in the child's lungs or stomach, and that "based on these findings she was able to rule out drowning as being the cause of death," the detective wrote. Dr. Tuyet Tran also advised authorities that she believes the child was dead before being placed in the pool, the detective wrote. The cause and manner of death are pending, but Tran found injuries such as bruising within the girl's cheeks. According to Tran, these injuries "are consistent with asphyxiation by smothering," the affidavit states. Police have not revealed any possible motive in the case. The detective noted in the affidavit that Gupta shares custody of the child with her ex-husband, who told detectives that he and his ex-wife are involved in an ongoing custody battle over the girl. The ex-husband also told detectives that he was unaware that Gupta and the child had traveled to South Florida. Based on surveillance video and Airbnb records, investigators determined that Gupta and her daughter were the sole occupants of the rental unit, the affidavit states. Gupta practiced medicine at Oklahoma Children's Hospital, part of the University of Oklahoma's health system, according to records from the Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision. The university's faculty directory showed that she has also been an assistant professor at the university's health sciences center. The University of Oklahoma and its health system released a statement this week saying that Gupta has been "suspended from patient care, given notice of termination, and was no longer seeing patients at the health system as of May 30, 2025." Gupta has also been given a "notice of termination" by the university, the statement said.
NBC News
13 hours ago
- NBC News
Supreme Court paves the way for Trump to send migrants to South Sudan
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday clarified that a recent decision does not prevent President Donald Trump from trying to send eight convicted criminals to South Sudan, a move that had been blocked by a federal judge who accused the administration of defying his instructions. In an order, the court clarified its decision from June 23 that made it easier for the U.S. to deport migrants to "third countries" to which they have no previous connection. The Supreme Court said in the unsigned order that its earlier ruling applied to the eight men, who are being held in a U.S. facility in Djibouti. Two of the court's liberal members, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented. "What the government wants to do, concretely, is send the eight noncitizens it illegally removed from the United States from Djibouti to South Sudan, where they will be turned over to the local authorities without regard for the likelihood that they will face torture or death," Sotomayor wrote. The Justice Department had asked the court to clarify its decision, accusing Massachusetts-based U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy of being in "unprecedented defiance" of the justices. Murphy had previously blocked the South Sudan deportations because he deemed them to be in violation of an earlier ruling he made. That ruling said the government must give migrants a 'meaningful opportunity' to bring claims that they would be at risk of torture, persecution or death if they were sent to countries the administration has made deals with to receive immigrants who cannot be sent elsewhere. The Supreme Court in June blocked Murphy's broad nationwide order, but both Murphy and lawyers representing the plaintiffs said the decision did not apply to the ongoing litigation over whether the eight men in Djibouti needed to have an opportunity to raise specific concerns about being sent to South Sudan. The men are from various countries, including Myanmar and Vietnam, and were all convicted of serious crimes in the United States. They were detained in Djibouti after Murphy ruled that the administration had defied his nationwide order by putting them on a flight bound for South Sudan. Some have had a "reasonable fear" of interviews with immigration officials as required by Murphy's order, but no adjudications have been made, their lawyers say. In its most recent filing at the Supreme Court, the Trump administration said it had received assurances from South Sudan that the men "will not be subject to torture" under the United Nations Convention Against Torture. Murphy, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, has come under heavy fire from MAGA world as a result of his rulings in the case. The Supreme Court's original decision merely said that Murphy's nationwide ruling was blocked, but did not explain its reasoning or how exactly it should be applied. The court's three liberal justices dissented, with Sotomayor saying that Murphy's decision requiring due process for the eight men in Djibouti was not implicated. The majority did not dispute that.
Belfast Telegraph
16 hours ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Ruthless gang known as ‘Mourne Mafia' take over drugs turf in border region
Violent Newry-based mob seize on rival's setbacks to muscle in on drugs, fuel, cigs and people trafficking rackets A Co Down-based criminal gang is muscling in on Northern Ireland's drug trade. Dubbed the Mourne Mafia, the gang is headed by a three-man team who are using truck drivers to operate their drug running and people trafficking rackets across the UK and on the continent.
