Contractor fined after worker left severely brain damaged
A Darlington contractor has been fined after a worker was left severely brain damaged following a fall from a house roof.
Mark Lambton, 50, from Darlington, was working for James Wilson, trading as J Wilson Home Improvements, when the incident happened on 2 July 2011.
Mr Wilson had secured work to replace roof tiles, point ridge tiles and fit a dry verge system to the gable end of a house in Wheeldale Close, Darlington. Mr Lambton and a third man were hired to assist.
Darlington Magistrates' Court heard today (5 September) that Mr Lambton was on the roof clearing concrete debris and fell around six to seven metres while attempting to move onto a set of ladders at the gable end of the property. He landed on the path at the side of the property.
He was rushed to hospital and was placed in a drug-induced coma for more than two months. He remains severely brain damaged, in a vegetative state with no likelihood of improvement.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found the manner in which the work was carried out was unsafe as there were no precautions to prevent the workers from falling from the roof.
James Wilson, trading as J Wilson Home Improvements, 53, of Mallard Road, Darlington was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £3,000 costs after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1)(c) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
Speaking after the case, HSE Inspector Emma Scott, said:
"The dangers of death and serious injury associated with falls from height during roof work are well known, and allowing such work to be carried out without any safety measures is totally unacceptable.
"This incident could have been easily avoided if appropriate edge protection and safe access had been put in place to prevent falls. Instead, Mr Lambton has suffered life-changing injuries that have left him in a vegetative state with no likelihood of improvement or recovery."
Falls from height remain the most common cause of workplace fatality. In 2010/11 there were 20 fatalities, 3,957 major injuries and a further 5,727 injuries that caused the injured person to be off work for three days or more, due to a fall from height.
Notes to editors
- The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to prevent 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. http://www.hse.gov.uk/
- Regulation 4(1)(c) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 states: "Every employer shall ensure that work at height is carried out in a manner which is, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe."
- For further information about working at height, please see www.hse.gov.uk/falls
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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by the Regional News Network