21/12/2009 - Firm fined over worker roof fall
A company has been ordered to pay out almost £14,000 after one of its employees was left seriously injured when he plummeted almost 10 feet through a barn roof he was cleaning.
The man suffered four broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a broken cheekbone, concussion and two crushed vertebrae.
Following a successful prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), TF Jackson Portable Accommodation, of Harpur Hill Industrial Estate, Buxton, was fined £11,000, with £2,700 costs.
The company pleaded guilty to a breach of the Health & Safety at Work Act for failing to ensure there was a safe system of work in place for people working at height. It also admitted a breach of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 for failing to make a suitable and sufficient risk assessment.
The court heard that on September 26, 2008, the employee was cleaning and painting the roof of a cattle barn at Endmoor Farm in Monyash, Derbyshire, when he stepped onto a PVC roof light which gave way.
HSE inspector Edward Walker said: "They could have for example considered using a cherry picker, prevented access to the roof's fragile areas, installed safety nets under the roof or supplied their employees with harnesses."
Copyright © Press Association 2009
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