Foam firm fined after worker falls through roof

Date:

17 November 2010

Release No:

HSE/100/10

A foam manufacturer has been fined after a worker fell through a roof at its Derbyshire factory.

The worker, who does not want to be named, was repairing a leaking roof at Recticel Ltd in Alfreton on 28 January 2009. He had fixed the leak and was walking back down the roof when he fell through a fragile roof light.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found Recticel had failed to properly plan the work and consider the risks from fragile surfaces.

The worker fell approximately four metres onto a section of foam on a conveyor belt below, and then onto the floor. He suffered tissue damage and was off work for six weeks. The incident has left him with residual pain and stiffness.

HSE inspector Noelle Walker said:

"Work at height remains one of the biggest causes of injury in the workplace.

"The work had not been properly planned by Recticel and the company failed to take into account the risk posed by the roof light.

"Proper planning is as important for small short-term roof repairs as it is for larger jobs and in this case it would have prevented a worker being injured."

Today at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court, Recticel Ltd, of Bluebell Close, Clover Nook Industrial Park, Alfreton, Derbyshire admitted breaching regulations 4(1) and 9(1) of the Work at Height Regulations and was fined a total of £13,000 and £5,098 costs.

In 2008/9, there were 35 deaths and more than 4,000 major injuries caused by falls from height.

Information on how to prevent falls from height is available at www.hse.gov.uk/falls.

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. 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. Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 states: "Every employer shall ensure that work at height is (a) properly planned; (b) appropriately supervised; and (c) carried out in a manner which is so far as is reasonably practicable safe, and that its planning includes the selection of work equipment in accordance with regulation 7.
3. Regulation 9(1) of the Work at Height regulations 2005 states: "Every employer shall ensure that no person at work passes across or near, or works on, from or near, a fragile surface where it is reasonably practicable to carry out work safely and under appropriate ergonomic conditions without his doing so."

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