Legal News
Company prosecuted after roofer falls from height (17 April 2014)
Date: 17/04/2014
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has successfully prosecuted a stone quarrying company after a roofer fell 4.5 metres while replacing roof lights on a fragile roof.
The unnamed 50-year-old worker landed on a concrete floor and sustained head injuries and a broken hip. He underwent several operations on his hip and later lost his job with the company.
Weymouth Magistrates’ Court heard that the worker was using a ladder and purlins to access the roof because a cherry picker had been removed from the site at Portland Stone Firm’s main depot in Easton Street, Portland when the incident happened on 16 August, 2012.
The court heard that while replacing the lights, the worker stepped back from the roof purlins and fell through the fragile roof into the interior of the building.
The subsequent HSE investigation found that the planning and supervision of the work was inadequate, suitable equipment had not been supplied – and Portland Stone Firms Limited had failed to ensure a safe system of work.
The court was told that safety measures – such as working platforms fitted with guardrails, proper crawling boards, edge protection around the perimeter of the roof, and safety nets under the roof, or a harness system to mitigate any fall – should have been put in place by the company.
On Monday (14/04/14) at Weymouth Magistrates’ Court, Portland Stone Firms Limited of Easton Street, Portland, Dorset pleaded guilty to two breaches of health and safety law, including a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £18,992 costs.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Mehtaab Hamid said:
“Employers must ensure that all work at height – particularly work on fragile roofs – is properly planned and organised and that employees are protected from falls.
“In this case, Portland Stone Firms neglected to implement basic safety measures to minimise the risk of falls and failed in its duty to ensure the health and safety of its employee.
“Employers have a legal duty to manage safety and failing to do so too often ends in tragedy.”
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