• Adam’s Building Construction Ltd built an extension over gas pipework and a boiler flue without relocating them, despite repeated warnings
• The gas installation was found to be immediately dangerous, forcing Northern Gas Networks to cut off the property’s gas supply
• The company failed to comply with an HSE Improvement Notice, and its director failed to cooperate with the HSE investigation

A Yorkshire-based building company and its director have been sentenced after botched building work on a home extension compromised gas safety and put the lives of a homeowner and her two children at risk.

Adam’s Building Construction Ltd had been hired by the homeowner to build an extension at the rear of her property in Bradford. Construction began in January 2024, but the extension was built over the top of the existing gas service pipework, and without repositioning the flue serving the property’s gas boiler. This exposed the family to the risk of gas leaks, fire, explosion and carbon monoxide poisoning.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that on 22 May 2024, a Building Control Inspector from the City of Bradford Metropolitan Council attended the property and discovered that the boiler flue was terminating inside the extension. He contacted Northern Gas Networks, who found the gas installation to be immediately dangerous, with the boiler still in operation and the flue discharging into the extension. The gas supply had to be cut off, leaving the residents without gas for several weeks and costing them around £4,000 to put right.

The investigation also found that Adam’s Building Construction Ltd had been warned several times by local authority Building Control Inspectors during the works that the gas pipework and flue needed to be properly relocated. The company’s sole director, Mohammed Adam Azhar, was unable to show HSE inspectors that his company had prepared construction phase plans for any of its building work, which was carried out exclusively for domestic clients.

This led HSE to serve an Improvement Notice requiring the company to put in place a system for producing written construction phase plans for projects where it was the principal contractor. The company subsequently failed to comply with that notice, an offence under Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Mr Azhar also personally failed to provide relevant information to the investigation when required to do so by the HSE Lead Inspector, an offence under Section 33(1)(e) of the Act. The court heard that neither the company nor Mr Azhar continue to work in the construction trade.

Adam’s Building Construction Ltd, of Leeds Road, Bradford, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) and Section 33(1)(g) of the Act. On 7 August 2026 at Leeds Magistrates Court, the company was fined a total of £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,263.

Mohammed Adam Azhar, of Intake Road, Bradford, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37(1) and Section 33(1)(e) of the Act. He was fined a total of £1,000 and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £400.

HSE Inspector David Beaton said:

“This was a tragic accident waiting to happen. The failure on the part of the company and its director to properly plan this building work, and to make suitable arrangements for relocating the gas pipework and appliances, could have easily had fatal consequences for the family living in the property.

“Those failures were compounded by the further failures to comply with an HSE Improvement Notice, and to provide relevant information to assist our investigation.

“Everyone in control of domestic building work must ensure that a suitable and sufficient construction phase plan is in place before building work commences, so that no-one faces the kind of risks this family were exposed to.”

This Prosecution was brought by HSE Enforcement Lawyer Arfaq Nabi and supported by Paralegal Officer Henrietta Ruthven.

Further information:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We are dedicated to protecting people and places, and helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.
2. More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
3. Further details on the latest HSE news releases are available.
4. Guidance on Construction Phase Plans, including a template, can be found in HSE publication CIS80, freely downloadable at https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/cis80.pdf.
5. HSE does not pass sentences, set guidelines or collect any fines imposed. Relevant sentencing guidelines must be followed unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so. The sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences in England and Wales can be found here.

A waste management company has been fined £2.48 million after a worker was run over by a reversing skip wagon at a waste transfer station in Bradford.

James Tabiri, 57, was working as a sort line operative at Biffa Waste Services Ltd’s waste transfer site in Bradford. On 10 August 2023, while making his way to the site office across the weighbridge, he was struck from behind by a reversing skip wagon. The impact caused him to fall, and he died from crush injuries from the rear wheels.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Biffa Waste Services Ltd failed to effectively review and monitor the control measures in place to protect pedestrians and keep them separate from vehicle movements.

CCTV footage from the week before the incident showed that it was common practice for people on site to bypass segregated pedestrian routes, with some seen climbing over barriers that were intended to keep them safe.

By law, employers must ensure traffic routes can be used without putting workers at risk. Guidance on managing vehicle movements in the workplace is available at Transport movements – HSE.

Biffa Waste Services Ltd, of Coronation Road, Cressex, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 5(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. The company was fined £2.48 million and ordered to pay full costs of £5,768.06 at Leeds Magistrates’ Court on 15 October 2025.

Following the hearing, HSE inspector Elliot Archer said:

“This incident was easily avoidable. Control measures were in place to allow pedestrians and vehicles to move safely, but a lack of monitoring and supervision allowed poor working practices to develop between the workers on site.

“Our investigation found a casual attitude to health and safety with workers treating a high hazard site like a playground.

“Nearly a quarter of all deaths involving workplace transport occur during reversing manoeuvres.

“This tragic incident should be a reminder to the waste industry not to become complacent with the risks workplace transport poses, and that even where control measures are in place to segregate pedestrians and vehicles, robust monitoring and supervision of their correct usage need to be in place.”

The prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Arfaq Nabi and paralegal officer Melissa Wardle.

Further information:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We are dedicated to protecting people and places, and helping everyone lead safer and healthier lives.
2. More information about the legislation referred to in this case is available.
3. Further details on the latest HSE news releases is available.
4. Relevant guidance can be found here Transport movements – HSE.
5. HSE does not pass sentences, set guidelines or collect any fines imposed. Relevant sentencing guidelines must be followed unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so. The sentencing guidelines for health and safety offences can be found here.