St James Group Ltd and facade contractor Lindner Prater have been fined £1.3m following the death of coach driver Mick Ferris, who was crushed by a falling window at the Corniche luxury development in Vauxhall, London, in October 2018. The companies were convicted of failing to discharge their duty under health and safety legislation by ignoring foreseeable risks, despite a similar window having fallen from the same building the previous year. Ferris's widow, Rachel, told the court that her husband's death was preventable and described the impact on her family, expressing that the tragedy could have befallen anyone.

The 130kg window pane fell approximately 90 metres from the 26-storey development whilst Ferris was returning to his coach. The court found that the outward-opening window was dangerously designed, held in place only by a single metal restrictor that could be dislodged by wind. At sentencing at Inner London Crown Court on Thursday, St James was ordered to pay £1m and Lindner Prater £300,000, plus £125,000 in costs each. The judge noted that whilst such window designs were common in the industry with no specific HSE prohibition, St James should have been more robust in ensuring the critical safety components were properly engaged. The HSE's principal inspector remarked that lessons should have been learned from the previous incident.