HSE/NW/215/08 15 February 2008

Two companies fined for breaches of health and safety legislation after two workers seriously injured

The Health and Safety Executive has again urged construction companies to take sensible, effective precautions to protect employees and others affected by work at height.

This follows a sentencing hearing today (Friday 15 February) at Aylesbury Crown Court, at which Environmental Reclamation Ltd (ERL) of St Albans, Hertfordshire, was fined a total of £30,000, and ordered to pay £21,360.11 costs for breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA) and regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

ERL had on Friday 8 February been found guilty after trial at Aylesbury Crown Court following an incident that led to two of its workers suffering serious personal injury. The company had been contracted to demolish and clear farm buildings at Church Farm, Church Lane, Oving, in Buckinghamshire. On Wednesday, 17 May 2006, two men working on a derelict barn fell through a fragile asbestos cement roof and suffered multiple fractures and spinal injuries.

At today’s hearing a second defendant, Clarks Construction Ltd (Clarks) of Luton, Bedfordshire, acting as the Principal Contractor on the same project, was fined £7,500, and ordered to pay £9,388.64 in costs. Clarks had earlier pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the HSWA at Aylesbury Magistrates Court.

HSE Inspector Norman Macritchie, who investigated the incident said:
"Today’s fines highlight the seriousness of this - entirely preventable - incident. Here, two employees, who were permitted to walk on the fragile roof of an unstable building, fell around four metres onto a concrete floor. Both suffered serious injuries and were evacuated to Stoke Mandeville Hospital by helicopter ambulance. I wish them the best possible recovery.

"This incident has had devastating effects on those concerned. Construction employers should take all reasonably practicable steps to protect their workers. Falling from height is the single greatest cause of fatality in the construction industry in the UK. Work at height should always be meticulously planned, organised and carried out, if tragic incidents like this are to be avoided."

Notes to editors:

• 1. Section 2(1) of the HSWA states: ‘It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of all his employees’.
• 2. Section 3(1) of the HSWA states: ‘It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.’
• 3. The Work at Height Regulations 2005, Regulation 4(1) says:
  ‘Every employer shall ensure that work at height is
  (a) properly planned;
  (b) appropriately supervised; and
  (c) carried out in a manner which is so far as is reasonably practicable safe, and that its planning includes the selection of work equipment in accordance with regulation 7.
• 4. More information about the HSE’s "Falls From Height” advice can be found at: www.hse.gov.uk/falls/index.htm and there is advice on construction health safety and welfare at www.hse.gov.uk/construction/index.htm

Press enquiries:

Lisa Browne – 020 7261 8312
lisa.browne@gnn.gsi.gov.uk

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Issued on behalf of HSE by Government News Network South East