Mick Ferris, a 53-year-old coach driver, died after a 130kg window fell on him from the 26th floor of The Corniche, a luxury development in Vauxhall, London. The incident occurred on October 2, 2018, and those responsible were fined at a sentencing hearing at Inner London Crown Court.
Property developer St James Group Ltd was fined £1 million, while specialist façade contractor Lindner Prater was fined £300,000. Mr Ferris, who worked for Clarkes of London, was returning to his coach when the window panel fell about 300ft. The window was roughly 85cm wide and 190cm tall.
Widow's emotional statement
Rachel Ferris described her husband's death as "so sudden" and "out of the blue", and said it "could have been prevented". In a statement read out in court by the prosecution, Ms Ferris said: "If somebody had done something differently – anything – it would have changed our lives."
"We wouldn’t be in this position. I know it wasn’t just one person, but one person could have changed this. One person could have asked 'can’t we do this better?'. What those companies did killed my husband."
The Corniche is located on the River Thames at the Albert Embankment and features "panoramic views" over the Houses of Parliament. Besides luxury apartments listed for sale at £3 million, the building also boasts a gym, pool and spa.
Companies found guilty
St James and Lindner Prater were found guilty of ignoring "foreseeable risks" while luxury architecture firm Foster + Partners and engineering consultants Wintech Ltd were cleared of the same charge. The firms had all been on trial at Inner London Crown Court for "failing to discharge a duty" under section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Ms Ferris said her husband was a "great dad and grandad" and "loved driving coaches", having followed in his father's footsteps as a professional driver. Around 400 people went to Mr Ferris' funeral, which featured a coach bearing his name.
Ms Ferris said: "He is missed by so many, it was unbelievable." The widow added: "Mick was just minding his own business. One minute there, one minute gone."
"The thought this could have happened to anybody is always with me. It could have been a child."
Court details
Jurors had been told the design of the window in the Corniche was "not safe" because it opened outwards and was held in place by a single metal "restrictor", so could be prised off by the wind. Mr Justice Boyle said he was not sentencing the firms on the basis the design itself was unsafe as they were "common within the industry" and there was no Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance prohibiting their use.
He added that the "restrictor, if present and connected, would have prevented detachment". Judge Boyle said St James should have been more "robust" in "ensuring the critical safety component was present and engaged". He added that Lindner Prater "should have done more to complete and document the risk assessment process". Judge Boyle also ordered the two firms to pay costs of £125,000 each, in addition to the fines.
HSE principal inspector James Goldfinch said Mr Ferris was a "hardworking man just going about his day". Speaking outside court, Mr Goldfinch added: "He lost his life due to the failings of two leading companies in their field."
"The fact lessons had not been learnt from a near miss the year before makes what happened on that day all the more galling. For a window to fall once was quite extraordinary, for it to fall again was simply criminal."
"The reality is that anybody could have been walking past the building that day. Nobody’s life should be put in danger due to the clear failings of others."
Firms' responses
Foster + Partners, which is behind some of the world’s most iconic buildings such as The Gherkin in central London, was responsible for the initial designs of the Corniche. But the company argued its role did not extend to the technical aspects of the design once the building was in development.
St James took up the role of "principle designer" in 2015, which meant it had a "duty to co-ordinate matters in relation to health and safety", the trial heard. Prosecuting for the HSE, Gordon Menzies told the court today that there had been a "lack of proper risk assessment".
Mitigating for St James, Prashant Popat KC said it was a "horrific tragedy and preventable incident", adding that Mr Ferris’s death "should not have happened". He added that the company was "deeply remorseful and regretful", and the incident was "taken incredibly seriously by the company". Mr Popat said the firm’s failure was "secondly to Lindner's failure" and "occurred even though St James did carry out a considerable amount of monitoring activity on this site".
Mitigating for Lindner Prater, James Leonard KC said the incident "should not have happened", adding the "fatal accident was almost certainly a consequence of a failure of reinstatement" by a contractor the firm had hired to work on the site. He added there was "no way of knowing when this error was made" meaning it was not possible to "point to a failure of monitoring or inspection by either of these two defendants".
