A construction company has been found guilty of manslaughter following two workers falling to their death as they worked on renovating a multi-million pound flat in London.
The two workers, Tomasz Procko, 22, and Karol Symanski, 29, were killed in November 2014, as railings being used for support gave way as they attempted to haul a large sofa up over a balcony.
A jury found Martinisation (London) Limited guilty of health and safety breaches and two charges of corporate manslaughter.
The firm’s boss, Martin Martin Gutaj, 43, from Brentford, was convicted of breaching health and safety.
The Company had denied the charges.
Martinisation (London) Limited had been warned about the importance of having trained, competent and effective supervisors prior to the incident.
The entire workforce spoke Polish as their first language but the policy documents and risk assessment were only available in English.
Prosecutor Adrian Darbishire QC told jurors how the incident occurred.
He said: “”As they hauled the sofa up about 20 feet to the level of the balcony, the workers were hauling against, and leaning over, the balustrade.
“The 130-year-old Victorian cast iron balustrade gave way and two of the men fell to their deaths on the pavement below. A third was saved only by being grabbed by his colleagues as he began to fall.
“The fact that the men were hauling the sofa up in the dangerous way that they were was the result of a long and unhappy history of neglect of health and safety at the company which employed them.”
Mr Darbishire described the tragedy as an “entirely foreseeable and preventable one.”
A recent survey of over 2,000 building site revealed that working at height remains the most significant hazard on a building site, with working at height accounting for 19% of all incidents recorded.
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