Wolverhampton company fined £8,000 after employee falls from height

HSE/WM/165/2009 6 May 2009

Employers are being warned by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to ensure they assess the risks of falling from height in the workplace, make proper plans for work to be carried out at height and supervise the work adequately.

This follows HSE's prosecution of MES Environmental Ltd, of Crown Street, Wolverhampton, after a 40-year-old employee suffered serious injuries as a result of falling about 6m from an overhead crane onto a concrete floor.

On 19th June 2008, the man was working on the cross travel beam of the crane to clean built up dirt when he fell, suffering multiple fractures to his skull, a broken collarbone and several broken ribs. He remained in hospital for several weeks after the accident due to doctors' concerns over swelling on his brain, and has not yet returned to work.

MES Environmental Ltd was fined a total of £8,000 and ordered to pay £3,532.55 costs by Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court (on Tuesday 5 May) after the company pleaded guilty to breaching section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

HSE investigating inspector David Evans said: "Falls from height remain the single biggest cause of workplace deaths and one of the main causes of major injury, but the vast majority of these accidents are preventable if companies assess the risks properly.

"The most common causes of falls from height involve failure to recognise a problem, provide safe systems of work, ensure that these systems are followed and provide adequate information, instruction, training or supervision. There really is no excuse for this.

"HSE has published a wealth of advice and guidance for employers to help them reduce the risk of such injuries and has recently launched the "Shattered Lives" campaign to raise awareness of slips, trips and falls in the workplace."

ENDS

Note to editors

1. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 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 in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety".
2. Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure that work at height is properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out in a manner which is, so far as reasonably practicable, safe".
3. Further information on how to prevent falls from height in the workplace and the Shattered Lives campaign can be found on the HSE website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/index.htm

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