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UK News - Breaking news in the field of health and safety
Men worked on roof without fall prevention measures
A self-employed builder from Chippenham, Wiltshire, who engaged 2 men to work on a new farm building roof in Foxham without arranging to have in place the normal measures to prevent falls from it, has been fined £2,000, with costs of £1,500, by Chippenham Magistrates.
Mr _____ and the 2 men were discovered by HSE officials to have none of the measures required for safe working at height, such as netting and barriers, putting him in breach of the Work At Height Regulations.
Comment:
"What we are aiming to do is be proactive and prevent injuries before they happen. The construction industry should be aware that where HSE Inspectors identify that standards on site fall well short of those required then, in addition to stopping the work, we could also bring prosecution proceedings.
We are not prepared to wait for an injury to occur before taking action. This initiative of proactive, risk-led prosecutions means cases can be brought to court more quickly. I believe we will see more of this style of enforcement in the future.
In this case, the risks identified were considerable. No steps had been taken, whatsoever, to prevent the 3 men who were constructing the roof from falling from it. Any fall from this height would have resulted in significant injury or even death. The work was stopped and steps were taken to ensure that it was not completed until suitable protection against the falls was installed. It was considered that risk of injury associated with the work, coupled with the shortfall in the level of control over the risk in this case, warranted prosecution." - HSE Principal Construction Inspector.
23.01.07
