Safety Signs News

Fall from temporary roof leads to fine of �£4,000

28th April 2011 | Health and Safety Signs

Posted by Nicole Stevens

Safety signage is an important part of keeping workers out of harm in the workplace.

A scaffolding company has been fined £3,000 with costs of £1,000 after one of its employees died following a fall from a temporary roof.

The worker fell around four metres while he was deconstructing a temporary corrugated sheet roof in Bristol, suffering serious head injuries and dying in hospital 12 days later.

Bristol Crown Court fined the scaffolding company with not only poor health and safety management practices, but also an attempt to fake a method statement for the work – as inspectors were given a document written after the incident.

Sue Adsett, a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector, said: "Corrugated tin temporary roofs are inherently dangerous to erect and dismantle."

Employers need to reconsider how they do this work and not just repeat how they have done it in the past. There are now safer ways of working to be considered, using different materials and technologies."

Ms Adsett also highlighted a change in the law with regards to working at height, and emphasised that employers should be aware of the updated laws.

Falls from height at work causes 4,000 major injuries between 2008 and 2009, HSE statistics show. ADNFCR-2754-ID-800514582-ADNFCR