Nofax Enterprises Limited pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 over the incident in 2019.

A 23-year-old was injured at the block of flats at Cambridge Heath Road when, entering a lift, it descended while the doors were still open.

His crush injuries were so serious he eventually required a liver transplant.

Nofax, which acted as property manager for the site, was investigated by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) which found it had failed to repair defects in the lift that had been earlier reported.

Southwark Crown Court, in its ruling on 22nd July, also ordered Nofax to pay £8,540 in costs.

“As a result of this company’s failures, a young man who was simply returning from a night out with friends has suffered life-changing injuries,” said HSE inspector Pippa Knott.

“The fine imposed on Nofax Enterprises Limited should underline to everyone in property management that the courts, and HSE, take these failures extremely seriously.”

This HSE prosecution was brought by HSE enforcement lawyer Nathan Cook and paralegal officer David Shore.

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When asked to comment, a statement from Nofax read that the company had “sincere regret” that such a “horrible accident” had occurred but suggested other parties were responsible.

“Unfortunately despite taking measures to make sure the lift was safe by contracting two lift expert entities TKE Elevator UK Ltd formerly known as Thyssenkrupp Elevator UK Ltd, who were also the lift installers, and Allianz Engineering Inspection Services Ltd as an additional measure to keep the lift safe, the above companies  failed to act in the way expected from lift expert companies contracted to maintain and inspect the lift and keep people safe,” read the statement from Nofax.

Here, Nofax claims both Thyssenkrupp and Allianz had previously inspected the lifts on the site and failed to flag up any need for repair.

Additionally, the property management firm has made claims of poor communication between the parties and pointed to the lift being over capacity at the time.

Nofax added: “If there is any word of advice from Nofax to any property management companies is be very careful whom you chose to maintain and inspect your lift and make sure you get a copy of all reports and information the same day to be able to take an action —otherwise you risk being blamed for accidents which could have been avoided if the companies responsible for the lift management and inspection took the lift out of order or informed Nofax about the risk the same day.”

Development Finance Today has contacted both Thyssenkrupp and Allianz for comment.