Construction Company Fined After Employee Falls Through Guardrail To Staircase |
Posted: July 21, 2017 |
A construction firm from Essex was fined in Cambridge Magistrates' Court after a man suffered serious workplace injuries in a preventable fall on stairs. Hill Partnerships Ltd, a Waltham Abbey-based firm, pleaded guilty to breaching the Work at Height Regulations 2005 in the hearing, and was fined £3,000 with costs of £4,501. The case related to a workplace injury sustained by Dunstable decorator David Scanlon on January 17th 2012. Mr Scanlon was working at a block of flats and was on a landing area on the first floor when he leant against a wooden guardrail that was surrounding a stairwell. This guardrail could not support his weight and collapsed, with Mr Scanlon falling on to the stairs below. As a result of the incident, he fractured his left arm, his thumb and several ribs. Tendons on his index finger snapped, two vertebrae were cracked, he sustained a number of collapsed disks and his head was bruised and cut. He needed five days in hospital and has not yet been able to return to work. An investigation by the HSE revealed that the guard rails the firm used at the site in Challis Green did not meet statutory requirements under UK workplace law, and were poorly constructed and designed. If the guard rails were more robust, then the incident would not have occurred, the court was told. Commenting after the hearing, Gavin Bull, an inspector for the HSE, said Hill Partnerships Ltd had not ensured the guard rails were suitable to prevent falls when work was being performed on-site. He noted that there are well-established standards for the design of temporary guard rails and that these standards should have been adhered to and enacted on-site. A large proportion of all workplace injuries are sustained by workers in the construction sector. While workplace injury rates in the sector have been declining for decades, the industry remains high-risk. Read More While 10% of all major injuries and 27% of all fatal injuries occur in the construction sector, just 5% of the British workforce is employed in the industry, HSE statistics reveal, showing that construction sector workers have a significantly higher likelihood of being killed or injured at work than the average British worker. Statistics such as this, and the consequences and severity of Mr Scanlon's workplace injuries, should underline the importance of adhering to workplace law for construction sector companies. While employers who have suffered preventable injuries may be able to make an accident at work compensation claim, the money they receive will not be enough to fully recompense them for the consequences of a serious injury. The HSE will also not hesitate to prosecute companies it discovers are putting the health and safety of their workforce in jeopardy. Employers that are negligent towards the wellbeing of their staff are making a terrible mistake that could prove to be very costly for them and could prove life-threatening to their workforce. Hellen working with legal team of Divorce solicitors Burnley from last 4 years, Her job is to create unique and quality of legal content for legal blogs.
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