23/06/2010 - Firms fined after worker injured
A construction worker suffered serious head injuries after he fell through a fragile skylight while working on the roof of a sawmill building, resulting in fines of nearly £40,000 for two firms.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Stanley Stephens of Longhope Welding and Woodgate Sawmills after Robert Stephens fell while he was working on a building at Mile End, Coleford, Gloucestershire.
Serious head injuries were sustained by 40-year-old Robert Stephens when he was working for his father, Stanley, alongside fellow Longhope employees to raise the roof line of the Woodgate Sawmill building. He fell five metres and landed on the concrete floor below.
Woodgate Sawmills of Lydney, Gloucestershire, pleaded guilty to four breaches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 and 2007 and was fined a total of £13,320 and ordered to pay costs of £14,443, when it appeared at a hearing before Gloucester Magistrates' Court.
Stanley Stephens, of Longhope, Gloucestershire, was fined a total of £26,660 and ordered to pay costs of £14,443 after he admitted breaching section 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 at the court.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector, Annette Walker, said: "This incident highlights the extremely serious risks posed by working at heigh if adequate safety protection measures are not in place."
Copyright © Press Association 2010
Related links
|
