Leicestershire firm prosecuted after worker's five-metre fall

Date:

29 November 2012

Release No:

EM/MIDS/182

A Leicestershire building firm has been fined after an employee fell five metres and was then struck by a wooden board and concrete blocks after a partially-built floor gave way.

The worker, who does not wish to be named, fractured his elbow and nose in the incident at Brook Street, Shepshed on 26 January 2012.

Leicester Magistrates' Court heard today (29 November) that he was helping to construct the second floor of a new build house for Hinckley-based W J Edge & Sons Builders Ltd when it gave way after being overloaded with concrete blocks. The joists collapsed onto first floor joists that also gave way.

The lower joists helped to break his fall, but he still fell to the ground with the materials, some of which landed on top of him. He was unable to return to work for six weeks.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated and prosecuted his employer for failing to prevent the incomplete floor from being used and overloaded.

W J Edge & Sons Builders Ltd, of Henson Way, Sharnford, Hinckley, was fined £7,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Martin Waring said:

"This could have been a far more serious incident had the lower joists not helped to break the worker's fall to the concrete below. He was also fortunate that a wooden board that landed on top of him provided a degree of protection from the falling concrete blocks.

"Had the company properly planned the work and prevented the incomplete floor from being accessed and overloaded, then the incident could have been avoided. It's essential that a build sequence is closely managed and that floor sections are properly constructed prior to working on them."

The latest figures show that 38 people died as a result of a fall in a workplace in Great Britain in 2010/11, and more than 4,000 suffered a major injury. Information on preventing falls 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. Regulation 25(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 states: "Every contractor carrying out construction work shall comply with the requirements of regulations 26 to 44 insofar as they affect him or any person carrying out construction work under his control or relate to matters within his control." Contrary to Regulation 28(3): "No part of a structure shall be so loaded as to render it unsafe to any person." Full information on the act can be found at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/320/contents/made

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