Solar panel installer suffered life-changing injuries from roof fall
Leeds Magistrates’ Court was told how in December 2015 Jhanade Ryan, a sub-contractor working for Centreco (UK) Ltd, was installing solar panels to the roof of Firth Steels, Brighouse.
Mr Ryan slipped on the roof, sliding down to the edge protection. The toe board of the edge protection snapped and he fell through the scaffold, landing on a sub-station flat roof. He suffered a fracture to his spine, a broken coccyx and nerve damage. Mr Ryan was in hospital for almost three months and is now unable to work due to ongoing mobility issues.
Investigating, the HSE found the scaffolding company had not erected the scaffold to a known industry standard or design. Roof lights were present on the roof and the contractor had failed to take effective measures to prevent workers falling through these fragile surfaces.
Oswestry Shropshire Scaffold Ltd of Pool Cottage, Oswestry, Shropshire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £28,800 and ordered to pay £945.20 in costs.
Centreco (UK) Ltd of Hearle House, Chorley, Lancs pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £33,500 with costs of £945.20.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Jayne Towey commented:
“Falls from height often result in life changing or fatal injuries. In most cases these accidents are needless and could be prevented by properly planning to ensure that effective preventative and protective measures are in place such as edge protection or barriers built to the correct standard.”
Fall Protection
With falls being among the most common cause of serious injury in the work place fall protection is so important. The Total Access (UK) Limited Fall Protection Department offers a nationwide service specialising in the design and installation of high level access solutions to facilitate the safe and efficient working environment of roof maintenance, on scaffolding, abseil cleaning and other high level tasks.
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Working at Height
Although these workers were renovating a basement, the risk of falling was still there, therefore they were still technically working at height. Some don't realise how important putting all their training into practice at work can be, this man didn't realise he may face jail time for not being properly secured whilst working at height. Make sure to have a look at our working at height training where you can learn everything from how to correctly suit up in sufficient equipment to climbing correctly.