Jack Savva, 70, was given a 13-month custodial sentence, suspended for two years, following the incident on 6th August 2020.
Savva, of Wraysbury in Surrey, was carrying out a loft conversion on a house in Springfield Road, when the gable wall fell into the building after the roof was removed.
Two days before the incident, Savva had informed the home owner about work that was required on the chimney breast. He had told them it was incomplete as it had previously been removed from the first floor bathroom and would need to be propped. However, on the day itself, he instructed his workers to remove key supporting timbers and steels, resulting in the collapse of the brick gable wall which struck the workers and destroyed the first floor of the building. The home was occupied at the time.
An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found that Savva had failed to ensure the structure did not collapse while it was in a state of temporary weakness. He had not taken steps to address the unsupported chimney breast before dismantling the roof, which caused the brick gable to collapse into the work area.
He also failed to take all practicable steps to prevent danger to any person while the building was in a temporary state of weakness.
One of the injured workers said: 鈥淚 still suffer from nightmares of the day of the accident.聽 I haven't slept more than two hours a night over the last four years.鈥�
Jack Savva, of Friary Road, Wraysbury, Surrey, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 19(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. He was given a 13-month custodial sentence, suspended for two years and was ordered to pay 拢2,000 compensation to the home owner.
HSE inspector Dominic Goacher said: 鈥淎lthough three men were seriously injured, it was lucky nobody was killed. In addition, the householder faced a bill of 拢200,000 to rebuild their house due to Jack Savva鈥檚 public liability insurance being invalid.
鈥淭his was a completely avoidable incident, had he acted on his findings regarding the unsupported chimney breast and taken steps to support the gable wall before removing the roof components. 聽Jack Savva should have taken precautions to protect people from the risk of collapse.鈥�
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