Company Discovers the Cost of Slips, Trips and Falls

Following a prosecution case in which the company responsible for a
driver breaking his ankle was fined £5,600, the Health and Safety
Executive (HSE) is warning firms that slips and falls can be costly.

At Coventry Magistrates' Court, Sunlight Services Group, who are based
at Basingstoke, was fined £2,400 after pleading guilty to a breach of
regulation 12(1) of the Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare)
Regulations 1992. The company also pleaded guilty to breaching
regulation 3(1) of the Management of Health & Safety at Work
Regulations 1999. For this offence, the firm was fined £3,200. It was
also ordered to pay costs amounting to £8,951.

The case concerned a driver at the company's London Road depot. On 20
November 2007, he had parked his vehicle next to the locked pump prior
to filling it up with diesel fuel.

Unfortunately, he slipped on the wooden decking in front of the pump
and broke his ankle. After falling, he was stranded for 20 minutes,
but eventually managed to use his mobile phone to call his wife. She
then telephoned for an ambulance.

The driver, an agency worker, had been working with the company for
just two weeks. He took only two steps on the decking before falling.
Upon arrival, the paramedics also found the surface very slippery and
had to remove some of the decking before they could they could lift
the casualty into the ambulance. This was not the first time drivers
had slipped in the area - the pump had a small leak when not in use -
but it was the first time such a fall had resulted in injuries.

At Coventry Magistrates' Court, the charges concerned the company's
failure to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment of the
wooden decking next to the diesel pump and ensure that every floor
surface in the workplace was suitable for its intended purpose and not
slippery. It also failed to protect workers using the pump.

The Court's ruling on this case coincides with the Health and Safety
Executive's (HSE's) launch of phase two of its 'Shattered Lives'
campaign, which aims to draw attention to the potentially fatal
consequences of slips, trips and falls in the workplace.

Speaking after the case, HSE inspector Pamela Folsom made the point
that, in this instance, the dangers could have been identified easily
through even a basic risk assessment. An alternative type of flooring
could then have been installed. Wooden decking was an inappropriate
flooring material for an area subject to fuel spillage and a variety
of weather conditions.