Overview
- An 18-year-old apprentice joiner, Chloe Bidwell, was found dead under a stack of plasterboard at a Bangor student-house renovation in December 2023 after she worked alone and failed to return home.
- The Health and Safety Executive investigated and concluded there was no lone-working policy, inadequate supervision, and no safe storage procedures for heavy boards that could weigh up to 30kg each.
- Varcity Living pleaded guilty to safety offences and its director David Horrocks admitted breaching his duties, and the company was fined £50,000 with costs ordered by the court.
- Horrocks received a 26-week prison sentence suspended for two years and judges said the firm’s risk assessment was a paper exercise that had not been implemented or shown to workers.
- Chloe’s family and HSE inspectors warned the case shows the human cost when basic safety steps fail and it may prompt closer checks on lone working, supervision and material storage on small renovation sites.