Moses Meisels has been sentenced to prison for 12 weeks, suspended for one year after the death at a synagogue development on Upper Clapton Road in December 2018.
Police found the body and despite the worker reportedly dying from natural causes, subsequent inspections by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed multiple life-threatening safety failures at the site.
Meisels was overseeing major structural work to enlarge the synagogue, but he repeatedly ignored warnings about dangerous practices – putting construction workers at serious risk of fatal falls.
After the death, HSE inspectors conducted four separate visits within five months, where a series of serious failure were found.
This included workers operating on a roof beyond the protection of scaffolding edge barriers, large unprotected holes in the ground, a unsecured ladder to the first floor and construction waste dangerously stacked in the front garden.
At City of London Magistrates Court, Meisels of Gilda Crescent, Stoke Newington, pleaded guilty to breaching Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015.
Along with his sentence, he was ordered to pay £10,000 in costs.
HSE inspector David King said: “It is essential that clients must make suitable arrangements for managing a project, including the allocation of sufficient time and other resources.
“Clients should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action them if fail to ensure their construction projects meet the required standards.”
