Companies and director fined after worker is paralysed

Date:

7 May 2010

Release No:

HSE/EM/ 006

Two companies and a managing director have been fined a total of £170,000 after a 23-year old worker from Kettering fell more than nine metres, leaving him paralysed from the chest down.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today prosecuted SDI Group UK Ltd of Main Street, Hardwick, Cambridge, Steel Construction Ltd of Bodmin Road, Coventry, and Richard Mark Berwick, the managing director of RM Berwick Steel Erection Services Ltd of Fairfield Road, Isham, Northamptonshire, after the incident on 8 February 2007 in Glossop, Derbyshire.

SDI Group UK Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and today at Lincoln Crown Court were fined £80,000 and ordered to pay costs of £20,000.

Steel Construction Ltd pleaded guilty to the same offence and were fined £50,000 and ordered to pay £22,000 costs.

Richard Mark Berwick pleaded guilty to breaching section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,000. He was also disqualified as a director for four years commencing today.

The court heard that Wayne Simpson, now 26, from Kettering, Northamptonshire, was working at a construction site off Waterside, Hadfield in Glossop on the day of the incident. He was installing a new racking system when he fell more than nine metres to the concrete floor below.

The incident has left Mr Simpson paralysed from the chest down and he is likely to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Almost three years on, he relies on family and friends for assistance. He has not been able to return to work.

Following the hearing, HSE inspector Kevin Wilson said:

"It is unacceptable that a young man should suffer such life-changing injuries while just trying to do his job. Mr Simpson has been left with a long-term debilitating condition because the two companies and Richard Berwick failed to ensure his health and safety.

"Employers must understand the importance of protecting their workforce. Mr Simpson should have been provided with an appropriate safe system of work to protect against falls. This could have included personal fall protection, such as a harness and work restraint lanyard fitted to a running line, and properly fitted safety nets.

"Companies should adequately plan for working at height and ensure fall protection and mitigation measures are in place so incidents like this do not happen."

Notes to editors

1. Interviews with Inspector Kevin Wilson are available upon request.
2. Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work 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 not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety."
3. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states that "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."
4. Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: Where an offence under any of the relevant statutory provisions committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
5. HSE information and news releases can be accessed at www.hse.gov.uk
6. Falls from height are the topic of a major new campaign by HSE and more information can be found at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/

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Issued on behalf of HSE by COI East Midlands