Legal News

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has successfully prosecuted an Aberdeenshire freight trailer manufacturer, after an employer was injured in a fall from height.

Peterhead Sheriff Court was told that on 11 December 2013, John Strachan, 50, suffered a fractured hand when he fell on the fragile roof of the brake department at a site operated by Gray & Adams Limited in Fraserburgh.

The court heard that the roof was constructed using asbestos cement sheeting, with a number of roof lights.

However, no fragile roof warning notices were affixed to the building.

An investigation by HSE found that installation, maintenance and cleaning work had also been carried out on the roof over a period of time with insufficient fall prevention measures in place.

At Peterhead Sheriff Court, Gray & Adams Limited of South Road in Fraserburgh pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of The Working at Height Regulations 2005.

Regulation 6(3) of the The Working at Height Regulations 2005 states:

Where work is carried out at height, every employer shall take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, any person falling a distance liable to cause personal injury.

Gray & Adams Limited was fined £5,300.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Niall Miller said:

“Precautions for working on fragile surfaces should have been taken by the company. Everyone within the maintenance team were fully aware that the roof was fragile.

“The risk assessment Gray & Adams had in place for working on roofs included the control measure ‘wear safety harness’ – however, this building roof had no system in place or any means for attaching a harness.

“The use of ‘crawling boards’ was not suitable or sufficient.

“John Strachan was fortunate to have fallen on the roof itself. If he had fallen through it he could have been more seriously injured, or even killed.

“Following this incident, a new risk assessment for roof work was carried out by the company – and this identified the need to investigate further fall protection measures.”

The HSE says that one-quarter of all workers killed while working at height involve falling through fragile materials, such as roof lights and asbestos cement roofing sheets.

Regulation 9 of The Working at Height Regulations 2005 relating to fragile surfaces states:

(3) Where any person at work may pass across or near, or work on, from or near, a fragile surface, every employer shall ensure that—

(a) prominent warning notices are so far as is reasonably practicable affixed at the approach to the place where the fragile surface is situated; or

(b) where that is not reasonably practicable, such persons are made aware of it by other means.


uncan Lewis Personal Injury Solicitors – No win no fee Falls from Height Claims

Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors can advise those injured as a result of falls from height caused by negligence on how to make a no win no fee claim for compensation, including claims relating to:

• Accidents at work
• Children’s Accidents
• Holiday accidents
• Military accidents
• Public liability claims
• Sports injuries.

Falls from height claims have to be made within three years of injury – children can make personal injury claims up to the age of 21.

For expert legal advice on no win no fee Falls from Height Claims, contact Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors on 020 7923 4020.