Health and Safety Failings – Waste Firm Fined After Preventable Fall From Height

Waste Firm Fined After Preventable Fall From Height

Key Facts: 

• A waste firm were investigated by the HSE after an incident in May 2014.
• An employee fell more than 8 ft from the unprotected edge of a conveyor sustaining serious injuries.
• The firm were fined £16,600 plus costs of £1,773.15 and a victim surcharge of £120. 

The Case:

An HSE investigation was launched into the safety practices of a waste firm after a worker was injured in an incident on their site in May 2014.

An employee of the waste firm was clearing items caught on a conveyor’s forks when he fell from the unprotected edge of the conveyor. He fell over 8ft to the ground below and sustained serious life changing injuries.

The subsequent HSE investigation found that the incident was entirely preventable, and that a risk assessment would have identified that edge protection was essential.

The case was heard at Stafford Magistrates’ Court in May 2015 where the firm pleaded guilty to breaches of the The Work at Height Regulations 2005 and The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. They were fined £16,600 plus costs of £1,773.15 and a victim surcharge of £120.

What the law states:

Regulation 6(3) of The Work at Height Regulations 2005 states:

“Where work is carried out at height, every employer shall take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, any person falling a distance liable to cause personal injury.”

Regulation 3(1) of The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 states:

Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of

(a)the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work; and

(b)the risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his undertaking’

What the HSE had to say: 

After the hearing HSE Inspector Katherine Blunt stated:

“This incident was entirely preventable, clearing the conveyor in this way was a routine part of the job but no risk assessment had been carried out. If it had it would have been obvious edge protection was essential.

The injured worker is still suffering from his injuries now and has only been able to return to work on limited duties.

Falls from height are the most common cause of serious injury and fatalities in the workplace, it’s imperative that risk assessments are carried out and suitable control measures are put in place to eliminate or reduce the risks”

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