19-Year-Old Dies in Shaft Fall at London Site, Firm Fined £49,200

A 19-year-old construction worker died after falling six storeys through an inadequately covered ventilation shaft at a building site in west London, leading to a fine of nearly 50,000 pounds against his employer's firm for health and safety breaches.

Renols Lleshi, from Ilford, suffered fatal injuries on July 5, 2023, while dismantling scaffolding on the roof garden of a 12-storey block of flats under construction at the Ark Soane Academy site on Mill Hill Road in Acton. He stepped onto what appeared to be a solid surface over a ventilation shaft, but the covering gave way, causing him to plunge to his death below. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive revealed that the shaft had been secured only with a sheet of plasterboard and roofing foam, materials insufficient to support a person's weight.

The probe found that routine health and safety inspections of the site had overlooked the roof garden area entirely, allowing the hazard to go undetected. No warnings were issued to the scaffolding team about the risks. Lleshi was working for Embassy Site Services Ltd, a subcontractor hired by Jerram Falkus Construction Limited, the main contractor overseeing the project.