Leicestershire company fined for unsafe work at height

Date:

24 March 2010

Release No:

HSE/EM/211/10

A Leicestershire company has been fined for failing to ensure the safety of three contractors working on a seven metre high roof.

Cobham Advanced Composites Ltd, of Gelders Hall Road, Shepshed, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for allowing three contractors to work on the roof without adequate safety measures to prevent them falling.

Workers on the roof of the Cobham Advanced Composites building

The firm pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at Loughborough Magistrates' Court yesterday (Tuesday, 23 March). It was fined £10,000 and also ordered to pay costs of £4,777.90.

The court heard that between 8 December 2008 and 16 January 2009 Cobham Advanced Composites employed Streamline Guttering and Cladding, of Kirkby Muxloe, to install new guttering on its seven-metre-high building.

The workers could access the roof by a mobile tower at the front of the building, but there was no equipment to stop the men falling at the back of the building where work was underway.

Streamline Guttering and Cladding was fined at an earlier hearing after pleading guilty to breaching the Work At Height Regulations 2005.

Prosecuting, HSE Inspector Mhairi Lockwood said:

"Working on roofs is a high risk activity. There was a foreseeable risk of a fall through either fragile roof lights or from the unprotected edge of the building.

"Any of the three roofing contractors could have suffered serious injuries or worse if they had fallen.

"This case shows that it is not only the responsibility of the contracting company to ensure the safety of its workforce, but also that of its client.

"It's essential that the hazards associated with work at height are recognised and understood by the client or customer who commissions the work and that they have a responsibility for controlling contractors when on their premises.

"Falls from height cause more workplace deaths than anything else.. Working at height can be very dangerous if the right measures are not taken to protect workers."

Last year more than 4,000 employees suffered major injuries after falling from height at work, and 21 workers in the construction industry died. For more information on HSE's shattered lives campaign go to www.hse.gov.uk/shatteredlives

Notes to editors

1. Section 3(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 not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.
2. On 23 February 2010 roofer Dean Paul Shaw, trading as Streamline Guttering and Cladding, was fined £4,950 and ordered to pay costs of £1,314.40 at Loughborough Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to breaching three regulations of the Work At Height Regulations 2005. Press release HSE/EM/176/10 of 24 February refers.
3. The HSE has recently re-launched its 'Shattered Lives' campaign, aimed at reducing the incidence of slips, trips and falls from height by showing employers and employees how easily they can happen and the simple, often cost effective, measures that can help reduce them. For more information, visit www.hse.gov.uk/shatteredlives
4. Visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg401.htm for more guidance on working at height.

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Issued on behalf of HSE by COI News & PR East Midlands