Company fined after contractor's fatal roof fall

Date:

20 December 2011

A Mid-Wales estate agent has been fined after an elderly maintenance contractor was killed when he fell from a roof.

Roger Jary, 79, from Welshpool was a self-employed contractor of Morris, Marshall & Poole estate agents, and was carrying out minor repairs to the carport and gutter of a rented bungalow on Little Henfaes Drive in the town.

Chester Crown Court heard that, on 10 August 2010, a plastic roof panel Mr Jary was moving across gave way and he fell around two metres from the roof of the carport to the ground below.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found Morris, Marshall & Poole contracted Mr Jary to carry out the repair work, but failed to ensure the work was properly planned and organised, or the contractor was competent to carry out the work.

Morris, Marshall & Poole of 28 Broad Street, Welshpool, who managed the property on behalf of the landlord, were prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). They pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and were today fined £75,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £11,153.95 Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Chris Wilcox said:

"Roger Jary might be alive today if simple safety measures had been put in place. Morris, Marshall & Poole had a duty to ensure the safety of those they employed - whether working directly for them or not.

"If your business in managing properties then you must ensure that anyone you engage to maintain those properties is competent and carries out their work safely to ensure their safety and that of others."

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 and 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 risks to their health or safety."

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 and PR Wales