Leicester firm prosecuted after worker’s five-metre fall
A Leicester door-fitting firm has been fined after an employee was injured when he fell from a wooden crate fixed to a fork lift truck.
The 39 year-old man from Enderby, Leicester, fractured his wrist, heel, ankle and elbow when he fell nearly five metres while fitting a roller shutter door at a farm in West Firsby, Lincoln.
He needed an operation on his heel and was unable to work for about three months after the incident on 2 September 2011. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated and prosecuted his employer, Multi Industrial Doors Ltd (MIDL), of Burbage, for failing to properly plan work at height.
Lincoln Magistrates' Court heard today (20 November) that on arrival at the farm, the employee and his colleague tied a wooden potato crate to a forklift truck using a strap from their vehicle. The employee was then lifted five meters to install a motor on the potato store wall. As he turned to pick up tools, the crate tipped, he fell to the ground below and the crate fell on top of him.
Multi Industrial Doors Ltd, of Sapcote Road, Burbage, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 8(b) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The firm was fined at total of £1,000 and ordered to pay £1,870 costs.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Christopher Copeman said:
"The risk of serious injury was high and foreseeable. Using the wrong equipment to work at height can lead to falls and the likelihood of serious head or back injuries. These types of injuries can lead to construction workers being unable to work as well as causing a significant reduction in quality of life for the injured person.
"Work at height should always be properly planned and the correct equipment provided to ensure the job is carried out safely."
The latest figures show that 38 people died as a result of a fall in a workplace in Great Britain in 2010/11, and more than 4,000 suffered a major injury. Information on preventing falls is available at www.hse.gov.uk/falls[1].
Notes to editors
- The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk[2]
- Regulation 8 (b) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 states: "Every employer shall ensure that, in the case of a working platform, it should suitable and of sufficient strength and rigidity for the purpose(s) for which it is intended to be used for.