Wolverhampton building firm puts workers and others at risk

Date:

24 June 2010

Release No:

WM148/10

A Wolverhampton company has been fined £6,600 for putting workers at risk of serious injury or even death, during a roof demolition.

Stan Alexander, a director of Alexson Homes, his son Conrad and a fellow director, Dean Mason were dismantling part of the roof of a former children's home in Coalpit Lane, Brereton on 8 February 2010. There were no measures in place to prevent them falling from the roof of the building, putting them at serious risk of falling almost five metres.

The men also put other people on site at risk by dropping materials off the side of the roof in an uncontrolled manner. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) concluded that the roof edge should have been fitted with scaffold edge protection and a rubble chute to protect other workers on site.

Alexson Homes Limited, based at Parker Road, Ashmore Park in Wolverhampton, pleaded guilty at Stafford Magistrates Court to breaching Regulations 6(3) and 10(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. As well as the fine, it was also ordered to pay £900 in costs.

Prosecuting HSE Inspector, Martin Overstall, said "All too often HSE Inspectors are called out to serious or fatal incidents in roof work where the precautions are minimal or absent - it is simply not good enough.

"Alexson Homes Limited was extremely lucky that no one was injured when working in such unsafe conditions.

"Building firms must plan a safe method of working, before starting to work on a site. They must put the right precautions in place to protect their workers and others in what can be a highly dangerous industry."

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce 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.
2. Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 states: "Where work is carried out at height, every employer shall take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, any person falling a distance liable to cause personal injury."
3. Regulation 10(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 states: "Every employer shall ensure that no material or object is thrown or tipped from height in circumstances where it is liable to cause injury to any person."
4. Visit http://www.hse.gov.uk for HSE information and news releases.
5. For further information about safe working in the construction industry please visit our website http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/

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Issued by COI News & PR West Midlands