October 2012 Accidents at Work

Contractor breaks skull in fall from scaffold

A worker suffered a multitude of injuries, including a brain haemorrhage, when he fell two metres from an unprotected scaffold tower.

The company had been contracted to install a suspended ceiling at Croxteth Sports and Wellbeing Centre. It originally planned to use a scissor lift to reach the ceiling but failed to arrange for the equipment to be delivered to the site, and so the worker used a mobile scaffold tower instead.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that the brakes of the scaffold tower had not been applied and there was no edge protection around the work platform.

He stayed in intensive care for two weeks and has been unable to return to work owing to his injuries. His brain injury has also had a long-term impact on his personality.

CME Ceilings appeared in court and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974. It was fined £5000 and ordered to pay the same amount in costs.

Source www.shponline.co.uk

Redhill Company fined £167,000 over worker's death

A Redhill-based construction company has been ordered to pay £210,000 in fines and costs after an employee died following an explosion on a construction site in central London.

The explosion occurred following damage to an 11,000 volt live cable within an excavation.

The construction operative suffered burns over 60% of his body whilst he and other workers were using breakers and a shovel within the excavation.

Birse Metro Ltd of Surrey pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company was fined £167,000 and ordered to pay £43,000 in costs.

The latest figures show that 50 construction workers were killed while at work in Great Britain in 2010/11, and there were nearly 3,000 major injuries.

Source www.hse.gov.uk

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