Saturday, December 20, 2008
Four year old killed in Persimmon Home.
A friend of mine who lives in the South called me today and told me the story from his area about a four year old boy who was killed because the fireplace in his Persimmon Home, came away from the wall and crushed him.
It came away from the wall because Persimmons' sub contractor hadn't used sufficient fixings to hold the mantlepiece to the wall. Why hadn't sufficient fixings been used in so many Persimmon Homes? It clearly states in the articles below, that the inquest found that there was lack of an audit paper trail? Have Persimmon tried to cut costs by instructing their sub contractors to use less fixings than they should, because there were many other mantlepieces that had already fallen and many more that had also been installed shoddily? Ultimately though as the inquest found, through shoddy work amongst other things taking place in Persimmons' houses, a four year old boy has now lost his life.
This is an absolute tragedy.
In light of this questions have to be asked here in Redcar. If Persimmon homes cannot oversee the safe installation of fireplaces in their houses, can anyone in their right mind see them providing sufficient funding or attention to safety in order to clean cap the 35 acre site in Coatham with clean top soil to try and get rid of contaminants in the soil to make the area safe? Or clear the whole area of landmines which has already been stated in their own application would be so costly to do, it would make the whole scheme financially unviable? Or even worse, provide between 12 to 14 million pounds in order to construct a sea defence in order to make the area in Coatham safe from flooding and not only that, make sure that it is built correctly?
Of course they're not.
If they haven't been able to ensure that their subcontractors have fitted fireplaces properly, then how on earth can they be trusted to deliver a piece of major engineering and construction by building a seadefence as part of the Coatham Scheme?
This is a company who have, through the death of a small child, been found wanting on so many different counts. This is a company that for some reason, are our councils preferred developer? Their shoddy practises and their total disregard for the safety of the people who buy their homes is there for all to see. Why are they our councils preferred developer? How many watchdog programmes, complaints from existing Persimmon home owners on the ings, dispatches programmes etc, does our council need to see before they realise that this company care about nothing other than their big fat profits? The most repugnant thing of all, is that they are ultimately responsible for all the contractors that they employ and yet here they are seemingly trying to pass the buck.
Does Redcar really want or need this level of commitment to safety here?
Persimmon will be desperate to keep this story as confined to its own area as they can. I say let everyone here see their lack of caring to attention and to the safety of others.
Watch these news items, read the newspaper articles and be horrified. Not only because of the death of a small boy, but because Persimmon and this council know how dangerous working on the Coatham site is, but they were quite happy to let McAlpines workers dig into Coatham common in September 2006 without following any of the safe working procedures for men working in contaminated soil, procedures set down in their own planning application. They were quite happy to let these workers have no UXO men on site as they dug into the common when both Persimmon and the Council knew that the land is home to potentially 100's of unexploded WW11 landmines.
Not only that, they allowed a JCB to dig into the common, when it clearly states in their own planning application that because of the potential prescence of UXO there, no such heavy equipment that causes such vibration should be used.
They are an absolute disgrace. It almost makes me want to print off these pages from the newspaper articles below and deliver them through the door of every Persimmon home in Redcar, to make people aware that this could quite easily have happened here, or even worse, may yet still?
http://www.itvlocal.com/anglia/news
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/northamptonshire/7792467.stm
http://www.northantset.co.uk/news/Falling-mantlepiece-killed-fouryearold-boy.4811088.jp
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1095601/Boy-4-crushed-death-collapsed-50kg-stone
-mantelpiece-held-plaster.html
http://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/Northamptonshire/Towcester/NN12/News/Local-News/120385-Inquest-Hears-of-Tragic-Towcester-Boy-Killed-By-Collapsing-Fireplace
It came away from the wall because Persimmons' sub contractor hadn't used sufficient fixings to hold the mantlepiece to the wall. Why hadn't sufficient fixings been used in so many Persimmon Homes? It clearly states in the articles below, that the inquest found that there was lack of an audit paper trail? Have Persimmon tried to cut costs by instructing their sub contractors to use less fixings than they should, because there were many other mantlepieces that had already fallen and many more that had also been installed shoddily? Ultimately though as the inquest found, through shoddy work amongst other things taking place in Persimmons' houses, a four year old boy has now lost his life.
This is an absolute tragedy.
In light of this questions have to be asked here in Redcar. If Persimmon homes cannot oversee the safe installation of fireplaces in their houses, can anyone in their right mind see them providing sufficient funding or attention to safety in order to clean cap the 35 acre site in Coatham with clean top soil to try and get rid of contaminants in the soil to make the area safe? Or clear the whole area of landmines which has already been stated in their own application would be so costly to do, it would make the whole scheme financially unviable? Or even worse, provide between 12 to 14 million pounds in order to construct a sea defence in order to make the area in Coatham safe from flooding and not only that, make sure that it is built correctly?
Of course they're not.
If they haven't been able to ensure that their subcontractors have fitted fireplaces properly, then how on earth can they be trusted to deliver a piece of major engineering and construction by building a seadefence as part of the Coatham Scheme?
This is a company who have, through the death of a small child, been found wanting on so many different counts. This is a company that for some reason, are our councils preferred developer? Their shoddy practises and their total disregard for the safety of the people who buy their homes is there for all to see. Why are they our councils preferred developer? How many watchdog programmes, complaints from existing Persimmon home owners on the ings, dispatches programmes etc, does our council need to see before they realise that this company care about nothing other than their big fat profits? The most repugnant thing of all, is that they are ultimately responsible for all the contractors that they employ and yet here they are seemingly trying to pass the buck.
Does Redcar really want or need this level of commitment to safety here?
Persimmon will be desperate to keep this story as confined to its own area as they can. I say let everyone here see their lack of caring to attention and to the safety of others.
Watch these news items, read the newspaper articles and be horrified. Not only because of the death of a small boy, but because Persimmon and this council know how dangerous working on the Coatham site is, but they were quite happy to let McAlpines workers dig into Coatham common in September 2006 without following any of the safe working procedures for men working in contaminated soil, procedures set down in their own planning application. They were quite happy to let these workers have no UXO men on site as they dug into the common when both Persimmon and the Council knew that the land is home to potentially 100's of unexploded WW11 landmines.
Not only that, they allowed a JCB to dig into the common, when it clearly states in their own planning application that because of the potential prescence of UXO there, no such heavy equipment that causes such vibration should be used.
They are an absolute disgrace. It almost makes me want to print off these pages from the newspaper articles below and deliver them through the door of every Persimmon home in Redcar, to make people aware that this could quite easily have happened here, or even worse, may yet still?
http://www.itvlocal.com/anglia/news
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/northamptonshire/7792467.stm
http://www.northantset.co.uk/news/Falling-mantlepiece-killed-fouryearold-boy.4811088.jp
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1095601/Boy-4-crushed-death-collapsed-50kg-stone
-mantelpiece-held-plaster.html
http://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/Northamptonshire/Towcester/NN12/News/Local-News/120385-Inquest-Hears-of-Tragic-Towcester-Boy-Killed-By-Collapsing-Fireplace
// posted by Chris McGlade @ 4:15 PM 
