Health and Safety Failings – Roofing company fined after worker’s fall from height

Roofing company fined after worker’s fall from height

Key Facts:

• A roofing company were prosecuted after a worker fell from a roof.
• The 37 year old employee sustained serious, life changing injuries.
• The firm were fined £7,500 plus costs of £5,725.22.

The Case:

An HSE investigation was launched into the health and safety practices of a North Wales roofing company after an employee was seriously injured in a fall.

The incident took place in December 2013, when the 37-year-old employee was working to recover the roof of a one storey outhouse. He fell from the roof, falling nearly 2.5m to the ground below. He suffered life changing injuries, breaking his hip and his left leg in six places and has since been unable to return to work.

The case was heard at Llandudno Magistrates’ Court in May 2015 where the roofing company pleaded guilty to breaching the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. They were fined £7,500 plus costs of £5,725.22.

What the HSE inspector had to say:

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Chris Wilson stated

 “Chris Jones suffered major, life-changing injuries and there was a real possibility that the fall could have proved fatal.

Falls from height are the biggest cause of workplace deaths and it’s crucial that employers make sure work is properly planned, appropriately supervised and that sufficient measures such as edge protection are put in place to control the risks of harm from falls.

Contractors must ensure that for even relatively small-scale jobs where there is a risk of a fall from height that adequate safeguards are in place. In this case this could have readily been achieved by the use of temporary scaffold edge protection around the perimeter of the roof”

What the law states:

Regulation 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states:

It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.

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