More Work at Height Risks

We reported last week that a company had been fined as a result of employees working on a roof without any safety equipment.

The Health and Safety Executive reminded us that up to 12 roofers are killed every year as a result of falls at work in the UK.

We were again reminded last week that employees continue to be exposed to the risk of falling at work when  a property company pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 after two men were found working next to a sheer 65 feet drop with inadequate safety measures in place.

The employers had rmoved scaffolding from the site, seemingly in an attempt to reduce costs. This left the men working with just a harness attached to a guardrail to stop them falling.

After the hearing the HSE said;

“It beggars belief that the company risked the lives of these two men for the cost of a few extra days of scaffold hire.

“There is no way of knowing whether the guardrail and harness set up would have held these men on the balcony. Had one of them slipped, he would have taken his colleague with him and they could both have fallen to their deaths.

Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 states;

“every employer shall ensure that work at height is (a) properly planned (b) appropriately supervised; and (c) carried out in a manner which is so far as is reasonably practicable safe.”

Gregory Abrams Davidson Solicitors specialise in accidents at work. If you require any advice, please telephone the above number.