Contractors working on the Hinkley Point C construction site have this week been granted extra time to comply with a legal safety notice after a worker was seriously injured when a formwork panel fell around 95 feet onto him earlier this summer.
The incident, which happened in June, led the Office for Nuclear Regulation issuing improvement notices to Bouygues Travaux Publics SAS and Laing O’Rourke Delivery Ltd, the two companies operating together as the BYLOR joint venture on the multi‑billion‑pound project.
The firms had been required to meet the terms of the notices by this week, but the deadline has now been extended to September 14th.
An ONR spokesperson said: “ONR recognises that progress toward meeting the requirements of the notices has been made. So, an extension has been granted to allow BYLOR JV more time to demonstrate full compliance.”
The spokesperson said there had not been any risk to nuclear safety, the public, or the environment as a result of the incident.
They said: “ONR inquiries established that BYLOR JV, in its role as contractor, failed to ensure that construction work was planned, managed, and monitored so that, so far as reasonably practicable, it was carried out without risks to health and safety. Both notices were issued under Regulation 15(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.”
Bouygues Travaux and Laing O’Rourke are currently being prosecuted under health and safety legislation as a result of a worker being injured in a similar incident August, 2022, and have pleaded not guilty. They are further being prosecuted along with NNB Generation Company (HPC) Ltd following the death of a worker a few months later in 2022, with all three entering not guilty pleas.
