HSE Recent Enforcement
Details of some recent HSE prosecutions and enforcement action in the construction sector.
Work at Height remains the single biggest cause of workplace deaths and one of the main causes of major injury. More workers are injured falling from a ladder than any other access equipment. In 2007/2008, 16 workers died and over 1,100 suffered major injury following a fall from a ladder.
5 March 2009 - Building contractors are being warned to ensure they carry out regular safety inspections after HSE prosecuted a Horsforth firm over a worker's fall.
Allerton Dale & Co Limited of Horsforth, Leeds were fined a total of £3,000 after pleading guilty to offences under Regulation 26(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and Regulation 12(2) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
The prosecution arose from an incident on the 9 October 2007 in which 33-year-old electrician, Simon Hunter, fell three metres through a void on the first floor of a new sports pavilion being built at Bradford Grammar School. Mr Hunter was installing a fire alarm cable when scaffolding guardrails, which were only properly secured at one end, collapsed as he leant over them.
23 March 2009 - HSE is warning roofing businesses to take proper precautions to protect workers after the prosecution of a Yorkshire company.
Richard Moulton Ltd of Embsay near Skipton pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 6(3) and 10(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and were fined £2,000 on each breach, a total of £4,000, and ordered to pay costs of £1,000.
The prosecution came because of work undertaken to the roof of one building at Embsay Mills in Embsay in March and April 2008. The system of work used by the company was determined to be so unsafe that the work was stopped by serving a Prohibition Notice. The company, which had failed to put the required scaffolding around the building, put at risk not only the safety of the worker but also members of the public. There was a risk of falling objects or materials at an entrance to their workplace and when they were in the office, as the roofing job was taking place overhead.
http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/detail.asp?ReleaseID=396318&NewsAreaID=169&NavigatedFromSearch=True
24 March 2009 - HSE is urging companies to follow safety procedures when working at height to protect staff from falls.
The call comes after the prosecution of Mr Andrew Howard of High Wycombe, partner in the Beechdean Dairies partnership. Mr Howard pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,000, plus a victim surcharge of £15.
The prosecution found that the Beechdean Dairies partnership did not ensure the health and safety of his employees when working at height, which lead to a member of staff being injured at work. On 19 June 2007, an employee was felting a link roof and filling in gaps between the link roof, freezers and walls, when the ladder he was standing on slipped or fell and he fell. He broke both his wrists.
24 March 2009 - HSE prosecutes scaffolders for injury to a pedestrian from a metal pole that fell from scaffolding.
HSE is warning construction companies and property developers to ensure they operate safe systems when erecting scaffolding after a pole fell and gashed the leg of a lady pedestrian. HSE is also reminding them that they should segregate dangerous overhead activities from the public when working on scaffolding.
Sky Scaffolding (Midlands) Ltd of Warwick, was fined a total of £4,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,761 after pleading guilty to breaching both Regulation 10(2) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and Regulation 3[1](b) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.
25 March 2009 - HSE is reminding companies that falls from height can shatter lives after a South Wales construction company was prosecuted when a worker was seriously injured.
R.J. Heale and Co Ltd, based in Bridgend, pleaded guilty to two charges under the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 and was fined a total of £5,000 and ordered to pay £6,605.25 costs.
An employee was standing on a mezzanine floor while it was being dismantled. He was removing the floorboards, at a disused factory and passing them down colleagues when he fell 2.85m through a gap he had created onto the concrete floor below and suffered a number of injuries, including a fractured skull and fractured vertebrae. He remained in hospital for three weeks after the incident and has not worked since.
Further information
Working at height -
HSE Shattered Lives campaign -
Roofwork -
Scaffold checklist - http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/scaffoldinginfo.htm?ebu
http://www.roofworkadvice.info/html/the_green_book_-fragile_roof_g.htmlhttp://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/roof.htm?ebul=cons/apr09&cr=11http://www.hse.gov.uk/shatteredlives/construction/index.htm?ebul=cons/apr09&cr=10http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/index.htm?ebul=cons/apr09&cr=9http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2009/coiw18709.htm?ebul=cons/apr09&cr=8http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2009/coiwm58609.htm?ebul=cons/apr09&cr=13http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2009/coise060309.htm?ebul=cons/apr09&cr=7
