Firm fined £450k after worker crushed to death in Birmingham

Stonehurst Estates Ltd admitted corporate manslaughter after Oleksander Rudyy died in 2019.

Simon Briggs (L) and Vasyl Bychkov (R)
Author: Molly HookingsPublished 16th Feb 2024

A firm responsible for demolishing buildings in Birmingham has been fined £450,000 after a worker died on one of its sites.

Labourer Oleksander Rudyy was crushed when a roof and wall collapsed on him in Vittoria Street, Hockley, on 8 May 2019.

Other workers managed to help a second man out from under the rubble, but sadly 49-year-old Mr Rudyy was pronounced dead at the scene.

Stonehurst Estates Limited, the company overseeing the work, admitted corporate manslaughter.

The firm, along with its owner Simon Briggs, 61, and the site manager Vasyl Bychkov, 45, also admitted contravening health and safety regulations.

The company was fined £450,000 with £167,000 in court costs yesterday (Thurs).

Briggs of Danehill, West Sussex, was sentenced to a 23-week jail term, suspended for 18 months, and a community work order of 100 hours.

Bychkov of Victoria Rise, Clapham, London, was given a 135-hour community work order.

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