Plumbing contractor C Watkins Plumbing Ltd of Ramsgate, United Kingdom, has been fined £20,000, plus £8,270 in costs, after a fire broke out on the roof of a construction project in Staines-upon-Thames, United Kingdom. The fire started on 26 July 2024, when sparks from welding work ignited uncovered insulation material on the roof. The case was heard on 29 October 2026 at Staines Magistrates’ Court, just over two years after the incident itself.
What went wrong?
Four subcontractors were on the roof of the Old Telephone Exchange project — a 14-storey apartment block still under construction — installing a heat pump, under the supervision of C Watkins Plumbing. Welding was carried out during that work, and sparks landed on uncovered rigid insulation foam on the roof. The material caught fire and the flames spread across the entire roof surface, burning out only once there was no fuel left.
An investigation by the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that no risk assessment, no method statement and no permit to work had been drawn up for this hot work, even though the company’s own policy required one. There were also no fire extinguishers on the roof and no means of raising an alarm. The four men were able to escape only through a single opening in the floor and a ladder down to the fourteenth floor; there was no other escape route from the roof. According to HSE inspector Stephanie Hickford-Smith, the four men on the roof were “lucky to escape”. HSE’s press release reports no injuries or casualties from this incident.
What did the court rule?
C Watkins Plumbing Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 15(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015), which requires contractors to plan, manage and monitor construction work under their control so that it is carried out, so far as is reasonably practicable, without risks to health and safety. Staines Magistrates’ Court fined the company £20,000, plus £8,270 in costs. Inspector Hickford-Smith stated that Watkins had failed to follow its own procedures for hot works.
Context
This case is not an isolated one. On 8 August 2019, a fire destroyed most of the Beechmere retirement complex in Crewe, United Kingdom. The suspected cause was hot work carried out by a roofing company in the days before on a terrace area on the top floor. Seventy firefighters tackled the blaze; residents had been evacuated in time. Six companies involved were prosecuted for breaches of the UK’s Fire Safety Order, with the first hearing held in August 2023. Cases like these show why hot work on construction projects needs to be assessed beforehand and actively controlled while it is carried out.
Source: Pictured: aftermath of apartment roof blaze workers ‘lucky to escape’ from, 30 October 2026
Additionally researched: Roofing Today, “Roofing company faces hot works fire failure charges”, on the similar hot-works fire at the Beechmere complex in Crewe (2019), 2023.
