138 Hydepark Street in Glasgow city centre collapsed on 22 January around 3:20pm, damaging a nearby car
Luckily, the Glasgow building collapse did not hurt anyone, as the building had no occupants bar one worker that had to rapidly exit the building shortly before the building fell.
The Health and Safety Executive has stated that no laws or regulations have been breached in the incident, and so no fines or punishments will be handed out.
Graham was working on the building before the incident
The building, an office building that was deemed no longer fit for use, was due to be demolished with Graham working on pre-demolition operations before the building collapsed early.
The development is due to be reconstructed into Purpose Built Student Accommodation for over 400 students.
The worker inside the building had a lucky escape and was able to warn his colleagues to move away from the site. Nearby roads and streets were covered in dust and debris.
The Glasgow building collapse didn’t hurt anyone
Last year, HSE published a report stating that since the pandemic, the number of deaths in the construction industry has risen by 70%. The report was published using data from the incidents reported under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations.
It was lucky that the Glasgow building collapse did not contribute to this. The number of deaths in construction in 2023/24 were more than double that of agriculture, forestry and mining which had 23 deaths in the same time period.
In the year to March 31 2024, 51 construction workers have died in incidents, with 47 dying in 2022/23, and a five-year average of 42 deaths.
This means that the rate of reported fatal injuries in the construction industry was five times higher than the average across all other industries.
An example of a recent incident comes from last September when Balfour Beatty were fined £285,000 after a worker died from a fall over 10ft, and another worker was seriously injured.
The pair were operating a scissor lift while installing cladding in a hall at the University of Birmingham, and a nearby crane accidentally knocked the lift and toppled it.
HSE investigated the incident, and found it to be preventable, chalking the cause up to a lack of control and communication between contractors.
Early last year, Nationwide Platforms received a fine of £900,000 after a worker was crushed to death in November 2021.
Another scissor lift incident, the controls were unexpectedly inverted on the scissor lift. When the worker attempted to operate the scissor lift, the lift moved towards him and crushed him between it and another scissor lift.
