(HSE) HSE warns companies to protect against falls from height

Health and Safety Executive (North West)

(HSE) HSE warns companies to protect against falls from height



The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) today warned employers to take adequate measures to prevent falls from height, one of the largest causes of workplace injuries. The warning follows HSE's prosecution of a Liverpool construction company for failing to implement safe systems for work at height despite repeated warnings.

J&D Property Services Limited of Breck Road, Liverpool was fined a total of £15,000 and ordered to pay £5,000 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (for which it was fined £12,000), and regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 (for which it was fined £3,000), at Liverpool Magistrates Court yesterday.

The prosecution follows HSE's investigation of an incident on 28 July 2006 at a construction site at 142-148 London Road, Liverpool. A 22-year-old concrete layer employed by subcontractors R & J Concrete Flooring Limited was laying a concrete floor, when he fell four metres through a hole into the well of a lift shaft which had not been made safe. The investigation found that the lift shaft was not covered securely and the edges were inadequately protected.

HSE Construction Inspector Sarah Wadham said:

"HSE subsequently served a Prohibition Notice on J & D Property Services Limited requiring the company to put in place edge protection. On a further site visit on 7 September 2006 a second Prohibition Notice was served requiring the company to stop work until measures had been taken to prevent a fall.

"J & D Property Services Limited placed its employees at risk by not taking reasonable precautions to prevent accidents while working at height. The company failed to manage the site properly, sent an unsupervised apprentice to carry out work to protect the voids and exposed many workers to risks from falling through a lift shaft opening which was inadequately protected.

"The boarding that had been put in place was more dangerous than the opening itself, because it provided a false sense of security to those who worked nearby. When the injured person stepped on the boarding it collapsed under him, and he fell through the opening to the ground below. He was seriously injured and lucky not to have been killed.

"Falls from height remain the most common cause of deaths in the workplace. Latest figures show that 45 people died from a fall from height at work in 2006/07, with 3,750 suffering major injury. More than half of such deaths occur in construction. Companies involved in building, refurbishment or maintenance must ensure that the work is planned properly and sensible measures taken so that workers are not exposed to risk."

Notes to editors:

1. Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety."

2. Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 says: "where work is carried out at height, every employer shall take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, any person falling a distance liable to cause personal injury."

3. The maximum penalty for a breach of Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 is a fine not exceeding £20,000 on conviction in a Magistrates' Court or an unlimited fine in the Crown Court. The maximum penalty for a breach of the Work at Height Regulations is a fine of £5,000 in the Magistrates' Court or an unlimited fine in the Crown Court.

4. Further information about preventing falls from height can be found at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls