HSE Warns Employers to Safeguard Employees Working at Height

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a warning to all
employers to ensure that they take proper precautions to prevent
employees from falling from height.

This word of warning is in respect to the prosecution of a Coventry
based company by the HSE, after an employee feel from a roof 3.5m
high, consequently, dislocating two of his fingers, fracturing his
left wrist and injuring his eye socket.

Thornett Mechanical Services Ltd, was fined a total of £2,500 plus
ordered to pay costs of £2,151 at Coventry Magistrates' Court on 13th
May 2009. The company pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety
legislation.

Following investigations into the incident, which occurred on 2nd
December 2008 at a unit in Bilton Industrial Estae, Coventry, the
company was charged by the HSE under Regulation 4 and Regulation 6(3)
of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

The employee was constructing the roof of an acoustic booth at a
height of 3.5 metres where access to the roof was via a mobile tower
scaffold. In order to undertake the roof work, it was necessary for
the employee to work on the roof and use two planks to kneel and stand
on. The drill bit broke while he was kneeling on the roof perimeter,
causing him to jolt forward. As a result, he lost his balance and
fell onto a concrete floor.

Speaking after the case, HSE investigating inspector Pam Folsom said:
"Thornett Mechanical Services Ltd failed to carry out a risk
assessment or plan a safe system of work. This could have involved
fabricating the roof at floor level and lifting it into position so
that the perimeter fixings could then be undertaken from the tower
scaffold, or erecting edge protection around the roof's perimeter as
the tower scaffold only covered the width of the booth. The injured
man had not been trained to work at height and his supervisor had not
been trained to conduct risk assessments. Furthermore, the supervisor
had not done any work at height training himself."