YouTube footage prompted prosecution of daredevil window cleaner
A window cleaner whose Spiderman-like antics on a restaurant building in Bath became an Internet hit has been fined £2000 for breaching health and safety regulations.
Wayne Terence Mallon, a self-employed window-cleaner trading with Terence Mallon as Terry Mallon and Sons Cleaning Services, was filmed by a passer-by working his way from window to window without any safety precautions on the third floor of the Loch Fyne restaurant in Bath in September 2012.
He was seen coming out of a third-floor window some 40ft above the ground, and climbing over the stone balustrade around the building to get from window to window. He then climbed out of a second-floor window and used the narrow stone lintels above each opening to move around.
Mallon was not wearing any fall restraint, and there were no other measures to prevent, or mitigate the consequences of a fall.
The video footage was uploaded to YouTube and has been viewed more than 90,000 times to date. It came to the attention of Bath and Northeast Somerset Council, which prosecuted him and Loch Fyne Restaurants.
Mallon appeared before Bath magistrates on 17 June and pleaded guilty to three charges: a breach of section 3(2) of the HSWA 1974 by failing to ensure that he and others (non-employees) were not exposed to risks to their health and safety during the course of his window-cleaning activities; a breach of reg.3(2)(b) of the MHSWR 1999 by failing to identify and control hazards associated with work at height; and a breach of reg.4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 by failing to carry out his work in a safe manner.
Mallon was fined £400 for each breach and ordered to pay costs of £800.
Loch Fyne is due to appear in court on Friday 28 June to answer charges in relation to six breaches of health and safety legislation.
Mallon's business partner Terry Mallon was investigated in relation to the incident but there was no evidence either that he engaged in this activity, or that he knew about it.
In his defence, Wayne Mallon offered his previous good record and said he could not envisage how this work could be carried out safely, proportionate to the cost.
Bath and Northeast Somerset Council said: "While working in this manner, Mr Mallon was putting not only his own safety at risk but also that of members of the public who were passing on the busy pavement below.
"Falls from height remain the most common cause of workplace fatality. The council wishes to remind all businesses carrying out these activities that they must, for their own and others' safety, familiarise themselves with legal requirements, which, in this case, would have assured Mr Mallon's safety."