Boss of decorating firm instructed workers to use unsafe platform

The owner of a painting and decorating company has been prosecuted after one of his employees shattered his leg when he fell from the top of a water storage tank.

The 58-year-old decorator, who wishes to remain anonymous, was working for Mawe Staff & Co Ltd, when the incident took place on 29 November last year. He and a colleague were asked by the firm’s managing director, Colin Mawe, to paint seven storage tanks at Humber Growers’ Beckside Nursery in Ellerker, East Yorkshire.

The pair was standing on the top of one of the tanks to paint it, when one of them walked along the curved top surface and lost his balance. He fell four metres and landed on the concrete floor slabs below. In the process, he suffered multiple fractures to his left leg and broke his right heel.

He underwent two operations to pin and re-build the bones in his leg and was confined to a wheelchair for several weeks. He now has to rely on crutches and is still receiving physiotherapy. Doctors have informed him that he will never be able to return to his job, or any other construction-related work.

The HSE investigated the incident and found there was no edge protection in place to prevent falls from the top of the tanks. Colin Mawe had provided unsuitable equipment for them to access the tank and had instructed them to use it.

The equipment comprised two a-frames connected by an unsecured platform with no guardrails, which was positioned between the tanks. The platform was too short to reach the top of the tanks, which was why the men had to step on top of them to finish the painting.

HSE inspector David Bradley said: “This was a serious incident in which a worker sustained life-changing injuries. However, the height from which this worker fell had the very real potential to cause fatal injuries.

“The controls needed to avert this incident were simple to achieve, and the risks to people walking along the top of a curved tank should have been evident to anyone controlling the work. It is therefore disappointing that Mr Mawe saw people working in this manner yet failed to introduce simple controls to eliminate these risks.”

Colin Mawe appeared at Beverley Magistrates’ Court on 5 December and pleaded guilty to breaching s37(1) of the HSWA 1974. He was fined £2500 and ordered to pay £1800 in costs.

In mitigation, Mawe said the work was completed safely after he arranged for a tower scaffold to be erected around the tanks. He told the court that neither he nor his company had any previous safety convictions. The firm has subsequently gone into liquidation and he has retired.