Building firm in court after ignoring HSE

A building contractor has been sentenced after ignoring enforcement notices from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The Court heard that HSE attended a site for a routine inspection earlier this year and found issues with scaffold and other work at height practices and subsequently sent a letter to the company highlighting its concerns.
After the company did not respond to the letter, two Improvement Notices were then served on the company to comply with including arranging appropriate Site Manager Safety Training Scheme and to address scaffold and other work at height issues.
Neither notice received a response, and when HSE inspectors returned to the site they found none of the matters had been resolved. Further letters sent over several months were also ignored.
The company was invited to attend a taped interview under caution but did not attend.
In Court the company admitted two breaches of Section 33(1)(g) and one breach of Regulation 4 (1) of Work at Height Regulations. The firm was fined £5000 for each breach (£15,000) plus full costs of £1617 were awarded to HSE.
This had been a normal routine inspection which found a few things that could have been easily resolved with minimal time and cost, should the business have acted at the time of being served the improvement notices.