Construction company fined after worker blinded in fall

Date:

30 March 2011

Release No:

HSE-e-14-11

A construction company from Cambridgeshire has been fined after one of its employees suffered severe head injuries which blinded him in one eye.

On 3 March 2010, builder and fitter John Ingram was working outside on a project to refurbish an agricultural building in Newgate Street, Hertfordshire. He was using a tower scaffold erected on top of a freight container and fell to the ground while trying to climb down.

The freight container from which Mr Ingram fell

Mr Ingram, 55, of Lode in Cambridgeshire suffered facial fractures, cuts and bruising and was in a coma for several days. He was unable to work for eight months after the incident and has since only returned to work on a part-time basis.

His employer Balsham (Buildings) Ltd, structural steel fabricators and cladding contractors, of High Street, Balsham, Cambridge, appeared at Watford Magistrates' court today and admitted to two breaches of health and safety legislation:

• Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 for which is was fined £7,000
• Work at Height Regulations 2005 - Regulation 4(1) for which it was fined £7,000

Magistrates also ordered the company to pay £8832.30 in costs.

While investigating Mr Ingram's fall, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors found that the internal works on the project had been planned and undertaken safely, with a scissor lift provided to enable employees to work at height - the same had not been provided for the external works.

HSE Inspector John Berezansky said:

"Incidents like Mr Ingram's fall are entirely avoidable. Falling from height is one of the most obvious and well-known dangers on a construction site.

"Unfortunately, Mr Ingram is not alone. More than 4,000 British employees suffered serious injury after falling from height in 2008/09.

"A lax attitude to health and safety in one of the more dangerous industries is not acceptable, especially when so many incidents are completely avoidable by taking commonsense actions and precautions. As always, HSE will not hesitate to take action if we find poor practice that is putting lives at risk."

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. Section 3(1) of the Health & 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 risk to their health & safety."
3. Work at Height Regulations 2005 - Regulation 4(1) - failure as an employer to ensure that work at height is properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out in a manner which is so far as is reasonably practicable safe.
4. HSE advice on how to prevent falls from height can be found at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/index.htm

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