Developer fined £1m over fatal window fall in Vauxhall

The fatal incident

Mick Ferris, a 53-year-old coach driver, was returning to his vehicle on Albert Embankment when a glass pane struck him on 2 October 2018. The father-of-two worked for Clarkes of London, according to BBC UK.

The pane fell 26 storeys from a penthouse at The Corniche, a riverside residential development in south London. It weighed 130kg and measured approximately 85cm by 190cm.

The sentencing hearing at Inner London Crown Court heard that another window had fallen from the development in August 2017. The window design had not been substantially changed after that incident.

The court findings

St James Group Ltd was the developer prosecuted alongside Lindner Prater. The BBC reported that both companies were found guilty over their failure to address foreseeable risks.

Judge Boyle said St James had needed to take stronger steps to establish that a component essential to the window's safety was fitted and engaged. His criticism concerned the checks on that component.

The judge separately criticised Lindner Prater's handling of risk assessment. He said the contractor had not done enough to finish the process and keep a record of it.

Both companies were ordered to pay £125,000 in costs in addition to their fines. Those costs total £250,000 across the two businesses.

Architect Foster + Partners and engineering consultant Wintech Ltd were cleared of the same charge. The court therefore reached different verdicts for the four businesses involved in the case.

The family's response and mitigation

Rachel Ferris told the court that her husband's death was preventable. In a statement read at the hearing, she described the sudden loss and said a different action by one person could have changed what happened.

She also spoke about the possibility that someone else, including a child, could have been struck. She said 400 people had attended her husband's funeral.

Television presenter James Corden paid tribute to Mick Ferris on Twitter at the time of his death. Both men supported West Ham, and Corden referred to Ferris's support for the club in his message.

Speaking in mitigation for St James, Prashant Popat KC told the court that the company felt remorse and regret.

Health and Safety Executive principal inspector James Goldfinch focused on the earlier window fall. He said the failure to learn from that near miss made the fatal incident more troubling, and described the second fall as criminal.