Birmingham magistrates fine ‘James Bond’ builder: HSE obstruction lessons for site teams
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
A Staffordshire site manager who obstructed Health & Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors after they spotted two workers accessing a roof from an excavator bucket on 11 February 2025 has been fined £3,000, with £6,450 costs and a £1,200 victim surcharge by Birmingham Magistrates Court. David Robert Lane, 59, refused to identify himself, claimed workers were unpaid relatives, issued threats, and later sent expletive-laden emails after being charged under two counts of section 33(1)(h) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. HSE, which conducts more than 13,000 inspections annually, signalled it will prosecute in rare cases of serious obstruction.
Technical Brief
- Unsafe access involved two people standing in an excavator bucket to reach a roof.
- Around 10 workers were present on the cottage refurbishment site when inspectors intervened.
- Inspectors initially withdrew after explicit threats of violence, treating the situation as work-related violence.
- HSE’s definition of work-related violence explicitly includes verbal abuse, online abuse and physical attacks.
- Follow‑up inspection occurred one week later, this time with Staffordshire Police present on site.
- Lane instructed all workers not to speak to HSE and to claim they were unpaid relatives.
Our Take
Health & Safety Executive enforcement against small residential builders, as in this Birmingham/Staffordshire case, mirrors recent actions against VNP Constructions and Stockport Development in London and Manchester, signalling that domestic-scale projects are now firmly in scope for repeat inspection and prosecution.
With only around 10 workers on site, this prosecution under section 33(1)(h) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 shows HSE is prepared to pursue even micro-operations for non-compliance, not just larger employers seen in other recent cases like Ace Infra Ltd and Matrod Frampton Limited.
Among the 313 Safety-tagged pieces in our database, HSE’s presence is a common thread, and the spread of actions across Birmingham, Manchester, London and Poole suggests a consistent national stance rather than region-specific crackdowns, which contractors across Great Britain should assume applies equally to them.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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