Company fined after worker falls through riding school roof

Date:

17 October 2012

Release No:

L&SE /191/12

A Knightsbridge facilities and cleaning company has been fined after one of its employees fell six metres through a riding school roof on the Longcross estate in Surrey.

The worker, who does not wished to be named, miraculously escaped with only minor injuries in the fall after a sand-covered floor cushioned his impact.

His employer MB Facilities Management Ltd had been sub-contracted to clean gutters at Lilypond Farm on the estate, near Chertsey, when the incident occurred on 23 March this year.

North Surrey Magistrates' Court heard today (17 October) that the worker was cleaning the stable roof as part of the job when he stepped on a plastic skylight that gave way beneath him. He plunged to a riding arena below, covered with soft sand for the comfort of horses.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) identified that he had he fallen onto concrete he could have been seriously injured or killed.

HSE Inspectors found that MB Facilities Management failed to ensure the safety of its workers. The company's own risk assessment identified the dangers of falling through the skylight, but workers were merely advised that they shouldn't cross it. They weren't supervised and there were no measures in place to prevent a fall.

MB Facilities Management Ltd, of 55 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road, London SW7, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company was fined £4000 and ordered to pay £3700.30 in costs. The worker received £1000 in compensation.

After the hearing, Inspector Russell Beckett said:

"The six metre fall could have easily have proved fatal and was entirely and easily preventable.

"MB Facilities Management could have covered the skylight, or used a cherry picker to raise workers up to the roof light - both simple measures to take.

"Roofers account for almost a quarter of all workers who are killed in falls from height, and falls through fragile materials like sky lights account for more of these deaths than any other single cause. Many others are seriously injured and are left with permanent life-changing disabilities.

"The dangers are obvious, the safety guidance is clear and there is no excuse for workers to be risking their lives."

Further information on working safely at height can be found online 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. Work at Height Regulations 2005, regulation 4 states: "Every employer shall ensure that work at height is
   1. properly planned,
   2. appropriately supervised; and
   3. carried out in a manner which is so far as is reasonably practicable safe..."

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