Company owner and building firm fined over falls from height
03/07/2012
Two more fines have been handed out in relation to separate falls from height in Widnes and Sunderland which left the workers involved with serious spinal injuries.
An unnamed 67-year-old worker was left paralysed following an incident which saw him fall from the roof of a pub on Sunderland’s Cox Green Road while undertaking work for demolition boss David Brian Riseborough in June 2010.
Investigations revealed that the fall occurred when workers were using a mobile access platform as part of work to remove slates and timber from a pitched roof.
However, the platform did not cover the length of the roof and Mr Riseborough failed to introduce further controls to ensure a safe system of work was in place. He was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs following the incident.
In a separate incident, a 40-year-old Southport man broke his back when he fell through exposed floor joists at a refurbishment site in Widnes in May 2011. Frank Rogers (Building Contractors) Ltd were fined £13,500 after it was revealed that adequate fall prevention measures were not in place.
Stephen Nye, a workplace injury specialist at Irwin Mitchell, said the cases are just the latest in a long line of prosecutions related to working at height.
He outlined: “It is very rare that a week goes by without the HSE bringing a prosecution against a firm or company owner in relation to safety failings which have led to a devastating fall from height.
“We are regularly asked for help in relation to such incidents, with victims seeking answers and vital funds which will play a part in their rehabilitation and recovery from such awful work accidents.
“Employers need to recognise that this simply cannot go on and they have a responsibility to put measures in place to reduce the potential risks which could leave to such falls. The construction industry needs to sit up and take notice of the very real need to make improvements on this important issue.”
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