Polish worker dies in ladder fall

Date:

21 December 2010

Release No:

HSE-E-50

Dutch fumigation company Bergwerff Numansdrop BV, operating in Suffolk, has been fined £60,000 with £21,709 costs after a 42 year-old worker fell to his death from a ladder.

Robert Schmelter, a self-employed electrician from Poland, was tasked to install two fumigation chambers at Anchorage Storage Ltd's premises in Kenton, Suffolk on behalf of the defendant in October 2007. He was coming down a ladder when he slipped and fell, hitting his head hard on the floor, the ladder coming down on him. He was taken to hospital where he died of his injuries.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the company had failed to properly plan and appropriately supervise Mr Schmelter's work at height to ensure that it was carried out in a safe manner.

Bergwerff Numansdrop BV, based in the Netherlands and operating as ECO2BV in the UK at the time of the fatal incident, appeared at Ipswich Crown Court for sentencing today. The company admitted breaching Section 3 of the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and Regulation 4 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 at an earlier hearing.

HSE Inspector Nicola Surrey said:

"This sad death of a man should never have happened. Bergwerff Numansdrop BV did not carry out their legal duty to ensure the health and safety of their employees.

"Falls from height are one of the most common, yet entirely preventable, causes of injury at work. In 2008/2009, more than 4,000 major injuries were caused by falls from height at work.

"In this case, it was down to Bergwerff Numansdrop BV to make sure the work at height was planned, organised and carried out by competent persons and that the right work equipment and collective measures were selected to prevent falls."

Notes to editors

1. HSE is Britain's national regulator for workplace safety and health. It aims to reduce injuries and illness in the workplace. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training, new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states that it is: "the duty of all employers and self-employed persons to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable the safety of persons other than employees".
3. Regulation 4 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 states: "Every employer shall ensure that work at height is:
   1. properly planned;
   2. appropriately supervised; and
   3. carried out in a manner which is so far as is reasonably practicable safe,
   4. and that its planning includes the selection of work equipment
4. Advice and guidance on working at height and falls can be found on the HSE website: http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/

Press enquiries

Regional reporters should call the appropriate Regional News Network press office.

Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News & PR East