Brighton man fined after worker's plunge from roof

Date:

17 February 2011

Release No:

COILON/2110

A sub-contractor has been sentenced after a worker plummeted more than five metres through a roof top in Brighton.

Louis Mitchell, 22, from Brighton, suffered severe injuries after carrying out repairs to a fragile asbestos roof on 14 October 2010 at an industrial estate in Church Road, Brighton.

The fragile roof through which Mr Mitchell fell

Sole trader Andrew Hyder was contracted to do the work at a unit on Smokey Estate and had casually employed Mr Mitchell to help.

Brighton Magistrates' Court heard the men were using scaffold boards as crawling boards when Mr Mitchell fell head first through the fragile roof, landing on a concrete floor five metres below.

During the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution the court heard Mr Mitchell had twisted while falling and landing to one side on his shoulder which had helped him survive the fall.

Mr Mitchell fractured his neck suffered four broken ribs, broke two vertebrae in his lower back, and punctured his lung. He also broke his collar bone and had to have ten staples in his head.

HSE argued Mr Hyder had failed to ensure work at height on the fragile roof was carried out safely with suitable equipment and no precautions were in place to prevent Mr Mitchell from falling through the roof.

Andrew Hyder, of Norwich Drive, Brighton pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9(2) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 at Brighton Magistrates' Court, on 17 February 2011. Today Mr Hyder was fined a total of £2,400 and ordered to pay costs of £2,478.60.

HSE Inspector Russell Beckett said:

"The dangers of working on fragile roofs are very clear yet companies and individuals continue to take risks and cut corners. Mr Hyder was well aware of the precautions he should have taken but decided to ignore them.

"Falls from height are the major cause of workplace fatalities. This case should serve as a warning to others that if you work without the right equipment and put workers at risk, you will end up in court."

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. Regulation 9(2) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 states: "Where it is not reasonably practicable to carry out work safely and under appropriate ergonomic conditions without passing across or near, or working on, from or near, a fragile surface, every employer shall - (a) ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that suitable and sufficient platforms, coverings, guard rails or similar means of support or protection are provided and used so that any foreseeable loading is supported by such supports or borne by such protection; (b) where a risk of a person at work falling remains despite the measures taken under the preceding provisions of this regulation, take suitable and sufficient measures to minimise the distances and consequences of his fall.
3. For guidance on working from height please see: http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/

Press enquiries

Regional reporters should call the appropriate Regional News Network press office.

Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News & PR London