Company director jailed following roofwork fatality

HSE Press Release:E003:05 - 7 January 2005

A managing director was today sentenced to a 16-month custodial sentence following a prosecution brought by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The case, heard at Manchester Crown Court, followed a police led, joint investigation with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the death of Mr Daryl Arnold on 11 June 2003.

Mr Arnold, aged 27, and several others had been employed by Mr Lee Harper of Cannock, Staffordshire, to remove and replace the roof of a warehouse on the Lynton industrial estate in Salford. No safe system of work had been prepared before the work began and no safety precautions were in place at the time of the incident. Mr Arnold had never worked on a roof before.

Whilst working on the roof, Mr Arnold stepped backwards onto a fragile rooflight on an adjoining warehouse, which gave way. Mr Arnold fell approximately 6.75m landing on the ground floor directly below. He died as a result of his injuries.

Mr Harper, managing director of Harper Building Contractors Ltd of Cannock Staffordshire pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter and a breach of Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA).

Commenting on the case Pam Waldron, HSE’s Head of Construction for Scotland and the North West, said:

“No penalty can make up for the loss of a loved one. However, Lee Harper’s sentence properly reflects the seriousness of his failure to ensure that Daryl Arnold was safe and HSE is pleased that the matter has been concluded. There was a fundamental failure to recognise that the roof included fragile roof lights that will not bear a man’s weight. Moreover, the equipment to prevent people falling through fragile materials is readily available and relatively cheap. A sensible, straightforward approach to health and safety in managing the risks on this job should have prevented this tragic death.”

Notes to editors

1. The police can investigate serious criminal offences (other than health and safety offences) such as manslaughter, and only the CPS can decide whether such a case will proceed. Health and safety offences are usually prosecuted by HSE, the local authority or other enforcing authority in accordance with current enforcement policy. The CPS may also prosecute health and safety offences, but usually does so only when prosecuting other serious criminal offences, such as manslaughter, arising out of the same circumstances. The arrangements for liaison between the police, CPS and HSE are set out in a ‘Work-related deaths: A protocol for liaison’.

2. In order to determine whether an act constitutes the offence of gross negligence manslaughter, the Crown must establish that:

• There was a duty of care owned by the accused to the deceased.
• There was a breach of the duty of care by the accused.
• Death of the deceased was caused by breach of the duty of care by the accused.
• The breach of the duty of care by the accused was so great as to be characterised as gross negligence and therefore a crime.

More information is available from the CPS website: www.cps.gov.uk

3. Section 2 of HSWA 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."

4. The breach of Section 2 of HSWA by Mr Harper was brought against him by virtue of Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act. Mr Harper was the sole Director of Harper Building Contractors Ltd. Section 37 of HSWA states: “Where a ‘body corporate’ commits a health and safety offence, and the offence was committed with the consent or connivance of, or was attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, then that person (as well as the body corporate) is liable to be proceeded against and punished”.

5. The maximum penalty that can be imposed at a Crown Court for a breach of Section 2(1) of the HSWA is an unlimited fine.

6. At the hearing on the 9th December 2004 Mr Harper’s company, Harper Building Contractors Ltd, were also charged with an offence of corporate manslaughter and breach of Section 2 of HSWA. These charges remain on the file as the company is in liquidation.

7. There were 8 deaths and 140 major injuries caused by a fall through fragile materials in 2002/3 (the latest figures). In 2003/04 38 fatalities to workers in the construction industry were due to falling from a height, an increase of 5 from 2002/03. HSE’s Construction Division has made its work to prevent falls arising from roofwork a priority. Information about the work of HSE’s Construction Division.

8. When a job requires work at height there needs to be a plan to work in a safe way. Simple precautions can prevent anyone working on or adjacent to fragile materials, such as roof lights or asbestos sheets. Precautions include:

• Place platforms over fragile materials to work over them. Platforms must be at least 600mm wide and supported by solid materials.
• Either cover with a material capable of supporting weight or provide edge protection (ie hand rail, mid-rail and toe board) if working near fragile materials.
• Where a roof will be removed the above precautions must be used and in addition it is possible to provide safety netting beneath the roof service to provide collective fall protection.
• When putting these precautions in place, or for jobs of short duration, harnesses may be an appropriate solution - but care must be taken to find a suitable fixing point.
• Training courses are available for roofers that include basic health and safety.
• A supervisor should be in charge of the work to ensure that safe systems of work are being followed.

9. HSE's free leaflet Working on Roofs, INDG284 includes this advice and gives more information about preventing falls from a variety of types of roof work. Health and Safety in Roof Work, HSG33, priced £8.50, ISBN 0 7176 1425 5, gives more detailed information and includes advice about other issues encountered whilst working on roofs.

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