Grimsby firm fined after worker's fall

Date:

20 January 2011

Release No:

YH/09 /11

A demolition worker had his career halted after suffering severe injuries in a fall through a garage roof, Grimsby magistrates were told.

The man shattered his leg and broke his wrist after falling seven feet through a fragile asbestos cement roof when helping to demolish a block of single-storey garages in January 2009.

The court was told the man's employer, Grimsby demolition firm, H. Cope & Sons Ltd, was working on sites throughout North East Lincolnshire where garages were being demolished.

The employee, who does not want to be named, had only started with the company four months earlier. He and another worker were at a site in Walmsgate Place in Grimsby and he was on the roof of one of the garages when it gave way.

The man had to have several operations to insert pins and plates into his limbs and needed to use crutches for more than a year. He has been unable to work since the incident in January 2009 and, despite bouts of reconstructive surgery, is in constant pain. He is unlikely to ever work in the construction industry again.

After the incident, HSE's investigation found the firm's planning was inadequate and failed to take into account how the garages were constructed. Supervision was so poor the firm was unaware employees had to go onto the roofs to dismantle them and break asbestos cement flashings.

And although the firm had identified equipment that should have been provided, such as a tower scaffold and dust suppression spray, plus basic facilities like toilets, it failed to provide them.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the demolition company, H. Cope & Sons Ltd, of Moody Lane, Grimsby, under Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The company, which pleaded guilty, was fined a total of £12,000 with costs of £3,570.80.

HSE Inspector Dave Bradley said:

"This incident has had a devastating and long-term impact on the man involved. Sadly, it was also totally avoidable.

"Demolition work needs to be properly planned and supervised, regardless of the size. Also, to allow demolition work on structures containing asbestos cement without the provision of any welfare facilities is completely unacceptable. Buckets in the back of a van - as was evident in this case - do not constitute welfare facilities."

In 2008/2009 more than 4,000 major injuries were caused by falls from height at work. More information on preventing falls in the workplace is available at: www.hse.gov.uk/falls.

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 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 states that "..it shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.."

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