Company and operations manager fined

This week a company and its operations manager were both fined after a man fell to his death through a roof.  Whilst working at height the employee stepped onto a fragile roof and fell more than 20 feet to the floor below. He suffered serious injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.  The company was found guilty, while the operations manager had already entered a guilty plea, but disputed he was responsible for health and safety at the site.  The case highlighted that there was no suitable and sufficient risk assessment made for the working at height activities, near to a fragile roof surface without suitable access equipment or safe working practices.  The work was not properly organised, planned, appropriately supervised or carried out in a safe manner and the relevant employees were not trained for working at height when the incident occurred. The company was fined £90,000 and ordered to pay costs of £28,956.  The operations manager accepted that he did not take reasonable care for the health and safety of the employees at risk and was fined £8,500 as well as the same amount in costs.

The findings of this case highlight:

• Although ultimate responsibility for health and safety may rest at director level, all managers who are responsible for employees have a duty to ensure their health and safety.

• Falls from height remain the leading cause of fatal injury to workers.  Therefore any activity involving working at height including use of ladders, platforms as well as accessing roof areas must be risk assessed with suitable controls put in place.

• Risk assessments should also apply if employees are tasked with working at height away from company premises whilst visit a customer site.

If you need reassurance that you are meeting your legal requirements, please get in touch.