Construction firm fined over worker's fall injuries

Date:

11 May 2012

A construction firm has been sentenced for safety failings after a roofer was badly injured in a fall from scaffolding at a house in Trafford.

Stephen Cartwright fell approximately three metres from the scaffolding, which had no safety rail, at a detached property on Carrwood, in Hale Barns, on 31 May 2011.

The 44-year-old, from Blacon near Chester, landed on a flat garage roof and sustained serious injuries to his right leg, including a dislocated knee and broken bones.

The building site where the accident happened

The Health and Safety Executive investigated the incident and immediately served six enforcement notices on his employer New Generation (Manchester) Ltd, stopping some work activities at the site and requiring improvements to be made.

Trafford Magistrates Court was told today (11 May) the scaffolding was in a poor condition and there were unprotected gaps in the floors and walls, all of which could have led to someone being injured in a fall.

New Generation (Manchester) Ltd was prosecuted for three braches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 by HSE for failing to properly plan and manage the work, for failing to provide a safe place to work, and for failing to ensure the site was in a good state.

The company, of Sackville Street in Manchester pleaded guilty all three offences. It was fined £3,900 and ordered to pay £4,000 in prosecution costs on Friday 11 May.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Ian Betley said:

"The state of the Carrwood site was an absolute disgrace when we visited it, and we immediately issued six enforcement notices to ensure the safety of the people working there.

"New Generation failed to plan the work properly or to manage it effectively. As a result, Stephen Cartwright suffered major injury and other lives were put in danger.

"Health and safety laws exist for a reason, and if this company had taken notice of them then Mr Cartwright's fall could have been avoided."

Almost 3,000 people suffered a major injury while working in the construction industry in Great Britain in 2010/11, and 50 lost their lives. Information on construction safety is available at www.hse.gov.uk/construction.

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 13(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 states: "Every contractor shall plan, manage and monitor construction work carried out by him or under his control in a way which ensures that, so far as is reasonably practicable, it is carried out without risks to health and safety."
3. Regulation 26(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 states: "Every place of work shall, so far as is reasonably practicable, be made and kept safe for, and without risks to health to, any person at work there."
4. Regulation 27(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 states: "Every part of a construction site shall, so far as is reasonably practicable, be kept in good order and every part of a construction site which is used as a place of work shall be kept in a reasonable state of cleanliness."

Press enquiries

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

Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by the Regional News Network