Company fined for worker fall
Posted: January 29, 2013
Posted in: Employer Negligence Falls from Heights Spine & Back Injuries Workplace Injuries
A Kent renovation company has been fined for safety failings after an unsupervised labourer fell more than four metres from a poorly constructed scaffold tower whilst stripping out a basement gym in central London.
The man fractured two vertebrae and broke five ribs in the fall in April 2011. He was part of a crew of labourers working to remove ventilation ducting from a two-storey gym in the basement.
A scaffold tower was erected to support the work and was being used by the worker to access ducting from a ceiling above a squash court. However, it was knocked over as he worked at height and both he and the tower crashed to the floor below, a distance of some 4.5 metres.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) identified that none of the temporary labourers was competent to erect a scaffold tower, and that it was constructed without adequate supervision.
A district judge was told the incident could have been prevented had the work been properly planned, managed and monitored by the company.
The latest HSE statistics reveal that 17 workers were killed and more than 3,000 others were seriously injured in falls from height in 2011/12.
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