Westminster Compliance

A  28 year old scaffolder fell seven metres through a roof and shattered his thigh bone, bruised his lungs, broke both wrists, broke two vertebrae and cracked another when installing scaffolding at a factory when he fell through a fragile roof.

He was in hospital for six weeks and will never be able to carry out any manual work again as his injuries have left him with considerable pain in his left leg and extremely weak wrists, which will require further surgery.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the incident found the company did not prepare or survey the job properly at the outset and failed to supervise or train its employees adequately.

The Scaffold Company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £19,000 costs.

Did you know? New employees are as likely to have an accident in the first six months at a workplace as during the whole of the rest of their working life.

The HSE states the reasons behind this are;

• lack of experience working in a new industry or workplace;
• lack of familiarity with the job and the work environment;
• reluctance to raise concerns (or not knowing how to); and
• eagerness to impress workmates and managers

A firm has recently been fined after handing over unsecured scaffolding to a client, putting builders at risk.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector visited the site where building repairs and external work were being carried out.

The inspector noted that the scaffolding erected around the building had not been adequately tied, meaning it was unstable.

By law, all scaffolding must be inspected by a competent person before it can be used.

The local Magistrates’ Court was told the worker who undertook safety checks, had been previously been advised of the need to adequately tie scaffolding but had overlooked this advice. He was also fined.

The scaffolding company was found guilty and fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 in costs, whilst the worker who undertook the safety checks pleaded guilty to a breach of Regulation 28(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007  and was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £2,274 costs.

Don’t forget the importance of carrying out safety checks and making sure these are undertaken by a competent person.

A company has been fined £100,000 after a worker was hit by a forklift truck, whose driver could not clearly see over the load he was transporting.

The worker was walking across a yard at the site, when the incident took place.  He was carrying paperwork to drop off at another part of the site when a forklift truck struck him. The lower part of his body was trapped under the vehicle and the emergency services were called to free him. Paramedics battled to save him but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The HSE’s investigation found that the forklift was transporting two large containers across the yard to be washed. The containers were stacked on top of each other on the front of the forklift, which made it hard for the driver to see over them. As the forklift approached the washer, the driver felt a bump and got out of the vehicle, and saw the worker lying on his back, trapped under the forklift.

Following an investigation from a HSE inspector he explained that the company failed to carry out an adequate risk assessment to ensure that the containers were transported safely. It also failed to put procedures in place to ensure that pedestrians were kept away from moving vehicles in the yard, and the operation was not supervised.

This should never be case and if in doubt, ask!