Falls from height shatter lives: Bridgend company fined after worker seriously injured

Date:

25 March 2009

Release No:

187/W/09

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is reminding companies that falls from height can shatter lives after a South Wales construction company was prosecuted when a worker was seriously injured.

R.J. Heale and Co Ltd, based in Court Road, Bridgend, pleaded guilty to two charges under the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 when they appeared at Swansea Magistrates Court. The company was fined a total of £5,000 and ordered to pay £6,605.25 costs.

An employee, Stephen Dalling, was standing on a mezzanine floor while it was being dismantled. He was removing the floorboards, at a disused factory in Fforestfach, Swansea in March 2005, and passing them down colleagues.

Mr Dalling fell 2.85m through a gap he had created onto the concrete floor below and suffered a number of injuries, including a fractured skull and fractured vertebrae. He remained in hospital for three weeks after the incident and has not worked since.

HSE inspector Wayne Williams said: "Mr Dalling's injuries were severe, but a fall from this height could have easily been fatal. It is vital that companies with employees working at height assess the risks and take measures to minimise that risk.

"In this case, the company failed to provide edge protection or any other physical measures to reduce the risk of falling at any point during the time this work was taking place. They also failed to provide a health and safety inductions to their staff and contractors."

"HSE is currently running its Shattered Lives campaign, which aims to reduces falls, slips and trips in the workplace by encouraging sensible and proportionate management of the risks. In this case, Mr Dalling has not been able to work since the incident, which highlights the life changing effects a fall can have."

More than 1,000 workers a month suffer a serious injury following a slip, trip or fall. To find out more about the Shattered Lives Campaign, log onto http://www.hse.gov.uk/shatteredlives/index.htm.

Notes to editors

• Regulation 4(1) of the Construction (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996 states: it shall be the duty of every employer whose employees are carrying out construction work and every self-employed person carrying out construction work to comply with the provisions of these Regulations insofar as they affect him or any person at work under his control or relate to matters which are within his control.
• More information on working at height can be found on our website http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/solutions.htm

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News and PR Wales.