Engineering services firm fined after worker suffers serious back injuries

Date:

22 April 2010

Release No:

HSE/EM230/10

A South Yorkshire engineering service company has been fined £1,000 after a worker crushed his vertebra and fractured two bones in his back when he fell almost four metres.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Ultimate Industries Ltd of 44 Northwood Drive, Sheffield, for allowing work to be carried out on a roof without adequate safety equipment to prevent workers from falling.

Ultimate Industries Ltd was also ordered to pay £2,125.20 costs at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to breaching regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

Between 20 and 21 August 2008 workers of Ultimate Industries Ltd were roofing a 'lean to' building that they had fabricated in a compound at Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd's car manufacturing site in Burnaston, Derbyshire.

A worker was on the roof of the fabricated frame fixing sheets to the ridge when he fell approximately 3.7 metres to the ground, resulting in serious injuries to his back.

The court heard that by not properly planning the work and not providing adequate safety equipment for work at height, Ultimate Industries failed to prevent, so far as was reasonably practicable, any person falling a distance liable to cause personal injury.

HSE Inspector Samantha Farrar said:

"Working on roofs can be a high risk activity if the right measures are not taken to protect workers and falls can result in life-changing injuries or even death.

"This case shows the need for companies to ensure that work at height is properly planned and supervised and that appropriate equipment is provided.

"Falls from height remains the most common cause of workplace deaths. Last year over 4,000 employees suffered major injuries and 35 workers died after falling from height at work."

Notes to editors

1. Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 states: Every employer shall ensure that, suitable and sufficient measures are in place to prevent, as far as reasonably practicable, any person falling a distance liable to cause personal injury.
2. The HSE's recent 'Shattered Lives' campaign, was 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
3. Visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg401.htm for more guidance on working at height.

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