St George fined £300,000 for sign injury at Vauxhall Cross

Here's a sad story from the Construction Enquirer. In 2008 a woman from Clapham sustained permanent brain injury near St George Wharf when she was hit by a 12m x 3m timber sign blown off the building by a strong gust of wind. 

Developer St George and a Middlesex sign company have now been sentenced for safety failings after a pedestrian sustained a permanent brain injury when parts of a decaying advertising sign fell onto her head. St George has been fined £300,000 and ordered to pay £222,692 in costs. The sign company, A E Tyler Ltd, of Brentford, Middlesex, was fined £60,000 with £22,855 costs.

Olivia Richardson, who was 33 at the time, was hospitalised for five weeks including several days in intensive care and "significant" brain surgery. 

"The HSE investigation established that the sign had a design life of two years, but had been in position for over nine years and had never once in that time been checked for structural soundness".

Full story at Construction Enquirer