September 2012 Accidents at Work

Firm fined after worker breaks neck and back in roof fall

A housing repair and maintenance company has been fined after a Nottingham worker suffered serious neck and back fractures falling 2.4 meters through a fragile roof. The employee, 49, needed to wear a body and neck brace for three months after falling head first through an outhouse roof.

The court heard that two workers were replacing cement sheets on a fragile, flat roof of a single storey outhouse. The employee accessed the roof via the top section of a triple ladder placed across it, with his colleague working from the bottom of the ladder which rested against a wall. During the work, one of the sheets started to collapse but was left still hanging from the roof. The worker below was able to hang on to this section, while the employee attempted to get off the roof. However, while going back down the ladder, he put his hand on the collapsed sheet and immediately fell straight through it, head first, landing on a concrete floor.

The company was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,452

Firms fined for asbestos failings

Two Lincoln companies have been fined after workers were exposed to asbestos during the refurbishment of a Northamptonshire hospital ward.

Contractors Simons Construction Ltd hired Rilmac Insulation Ltd to carry out an asbestos survey for them before work began. The survey identified an asbestos coating on the underside of the ceilings, but missed over 200 sqmetres of asbestos insulation board (AIB) above.

The court heard the workers unwittingly increased the risk to themselves when they swept up the debris and left it in a pile on the floor. It was only discovered when a company contracted to remove the ceilings came onto the ward in January 2010 and recognised the material.
Simons Construction Ltd was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,911 while Rilmac Insulation Ltd was fined £3,500 with costs of £2,911.

Every year around 4,500 people die from asbestos-related diseases. It is vital that work with asbestos is properly planned and supervised and that workers are made aware of the dangers and given the correct protective equipment and training to prevent exposure to this deadly substance."

Source: www.hse.gov.uk

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