Father and son fined for unsafe roof work

Date:

14 November 2011

Release No:

HSE/EM/265/11

A roofer was caught on camera working on an industrial unit roof without any safety equipment, a court heard.

Nottingham Magistrates' Court today fined Michael Hallwood and his son Michael Thomas Hallwood, partners in Cladding Coatings, after a worker was seen risking his life on a roof at Farrar Close, off Brunel Drive, Newark, on 8 June 2010.

A member of the public reported the worker to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after photographing him undertaking cleaning work on the roof, which contained around eighty potentially fragile roof lights, using no safety equipment, edge protection or harnesses to prevent falls.

Mr Hallwood, of Ashmond, Springhead, Oldham, and his son, of Bradley Fold, Oldham, pleaded guilty to breaching section 4(1)(c) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. They were fined £2,500 each and ordered to pay costs of £2,604 between them.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Lee Greatorex said:

"Fortunately no one was injured on this occasion, but Mr Hallwood Senior, his son and their employees were at risk. This was a blatant disregard for health and safety which put people in danger.

"Roofing work requires careful planning and assessment of the risks involved. In this case employees were working without the correct equipment to protect them from falls.

"Falls from height are the biggest cause of workplace deaths and it's crucial that employers make sure work is properly planned, appropriately supervised and that sufficient measures are put in place to protect staff from the risks."

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. Photographs of the workers on the roof are available from COI
3. Regulation 4(1)(c) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 states: "Every employer shall ensure that work at height is 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."
4. Visit www.hse.gov.uk/falls for more guidance on working at height.

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