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Charlie Marsh, aged 17, had been working as a contractor on a Taylor Wimpey UK’s Meadfields site in Weston-Super-Mare, a development of 450 new homes.

The apprentice bricklayer, from Whitchurch in Bristol, was less than 12 months into his career when the incident happened. An investigator for the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) said the teenager was lucky to escape serious injury.

On 22^nd August 2023 Charlie Marsh had been loading concrete blocks onto the temporary flooring on the first floor of one of the newly built homes. The blocks were being loaded into stacks of between 10 and 20, one of which was on or near to a temporary stairwell covering. This was a large area covered with a timber sheet material laid over joists – both of which would be later removed to install the staircase.

However, the area collapsed, causing Charlie and around 20kg of concrete blocks to fall more than two metres to the ground below. He sustained injuries to his fingers, hand, wrist and shoulder.

The subsequent HSE investigation found that the joists under the timber sheet material should have been back propped. This was mentioned a number of times in Taylor Wimpey’s own health and safety manual for the site, but it had been missed on this particular plot. Had suitably designed back propping been used, it is unlikely that the incident would have occurred, the HSE said.

Taylor Wimpey UK Limited pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It was fined £800,000 and ordered to pay £6,240.25 costs with a £2,000 victim surcharge at the North Somerset Magistrates’ Court on 3^rd June 2025.

HSE inspector Derek Mclauchlan said “Everyone working in construction has a responsibility to ensure people are safe. Any work involving structural stability is potentially high risk and proper planning and implementation should be given.

“This incident could have been avoided had the right steps been taken.

“The failures of Taylor Wimpey resulted in a young man at the very beginning of his career being injured. Charlie was lucky those injuries were not far more serious.

“Lessons should be learned.”

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