Companies in Cheshire are being warned they face prosecution if they take unnecessary risks, which put their employees in danger.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued the warning after Macclesfield-based Eazyfone Ltd, was fined after an employee was seen fitting a CCTV bracket to the side of a building, while raised on a pallet on the forks of a forklift truck.
The company of Guildford House on the Lyme Green Business Park in Macclesfield, pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for failing to ensure the safety of its employees. Eazyfone was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,285 at Macclesfield Magistrates' Court earlier today, 27 May.
The incident was observed by two HSE inspectors who were passing the company's offices on 4 March 2008. They saw the man raised more than two metres to carry out the work, and took action as a result.
HSE Inspector Deborah Walker said:
"It is clearly unsafe for anyone to carry out work at height by standing on a pallet raised on a forklift truck. The Eazyfone employee was lucky not to have fallen and been seriously injured or killed.
"This demonstrates the need for companies to carry out suitable and sufficient risk assessments to ensure that a safe system of work is in place. This should include providing training for employees, and carefully planning and supervising the work.
"This case should remind employers of the importance of working safely at height."
Section 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."
For more information and advice on working at height, please visit the Shattered Lives pages on the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/shatteredlives/
Regional reporters should call the appropriate Regional News Network press office.
Issued on behalf of HSE by COI News and PR North West.
Regional reporters should call the appropriate Regional News Network press office who act as HSE's Press Office throughout Great Britain.
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