Roofer more concerned about beating the rain than
safety
13
January 2012
A roofer has admitted putting workers and members
of the public at risk, after being spotted working on a roof without any fall
protection by a passing HSE inspector.
Burnley Magistrates’ Court heard that Ross Singleton, who trades as Ross’s
Roofing, and two other workers were carrying out roof repairs at a hairdressers
in Colne, Lancashire, on 24 May 2011.
HSE inspector Jacqueline Western was passing the salon and noticed that there
were no safety measures in place to prevent the workers from falling. Singleton
had also failed to take precautions to stop debris from dropping on to the busy
pedestrian footpath below.
Inspector Western took pictures of the men working and then ordered the work to
stop immediately. She issued a Prohibition Notice to Singleton, which required
the work to stop until edge protection was installed.
When she returned to the site later in the day, she found that Singleton had
ignored the enforcement notice by continuing with the repairs without properly
addressing the unsafe method of work.
Singleton appeared in court on 12 January and pleaded guilty to breaching
reg.6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, and s33(1)(g) of the HSWA
1974, for ignoring an enforcement notice. He was fined £350 and ordered to pay
£300 in costs.
In mitigation Singleton said he hadn’t considered the roof to be high enough to
need edge protection. He explained that following the issue of the Prohibition
Notice he erected a tower scaffold to finish the work, which he accepts did not
have edge protection. He told the court that his priority on the day was to
finish the work before heavy rain began.
Speaking after the hearing, inspector Western said: “Ross Singleton and the two
other men were working nearly three metres above the ground – a height that
could have resulted in a serious injury if any of them had fallen.
“He should have treated the Prohibition Notice as a formal warning and stopped
work until safety measures, such as guard rails, were in place. Instead, he
ignored the notice and has found himself in court as a result.
“Dozens of people die every year as a result of a fall while at work. Roofers
should treat the risks seriously and take action to make sure workers stay
safe.”
The Lancashire Telegraph also reported on the case, and its story received a
number of comments from readers who criticised the prosecution. Some labelled
health and safety as “a joke”, saying it prevents people from making “an honest
living”.
Singleton himself posted a comment, which said: “I hired the scaffold straight
away but it started to rain as soon as were erecting it, which meant I had to
go back on the roof to sheet-up to prevent the roof being rain-damaged.
“If I had got a professional to install the scaffolding it would have cost
£400-£500. The owner of the hairdressers would not have been happy to cover
this charge as well as the roof repairs.
Echoing the sentiments of other commentators, he concluded: “I’m an honest
young man trying to make an honest living, rather than most my age, who clearly
get every penny they can from the government in benefits.”
Forklift fall
left driver with serious back injuries - 09 January 2012
Fine: £24,000. Costs £4,815.A
refractory goods manufacturer has admitted failing to create a safe system of
work for unloading deliveries, following an incident where a forklift truck
fell off a ramp.
Andrew
Baxter, 50, was unloading a 20ft container at Vesuvius UK Ltd’s factory in
Chesterfield, when the incident took place on 15 February 2010. He had
attempted to attach a mobile ramp to the lorry bed that a forklift could use to
unload the delivery. The ramp is attached to the vehicle by chains, but the
clasp on the chains didn’t fit the hooking point on the lorry. Consequently, Mr
Baxter attached the chains to a fixing point lower down, which meant that the
ramp was level with the lorry bed.
When
Mr Baxter was reversing out of the lorry, the ramp became separated from the
lorry bed and the forklift dropped to the ground. He suffered a fractured back
and crushed disc and spent eight days in hospital. He was unable to return to
work for nine months and is still only able to work part-time.
The
HSE issued the company Prohibition Notice, which required it to stop using the
ramp until it was in a suitable condition and a safe system of work had been
created. An investigation found no evidence of a risk assessment having been
carried out for unloading and loading procedures at the site. Forklift drivers
were aware that the ramp could move away from the lorry beds, and they had
adopted an informal system of using the forks of the truck to push it back into
position.
HSE
inspector Fiona Coffey told SHP that the incident could have been avoided if
chocks had been placed behind the wheels of the ramp and the lorry. The company
also failed to put a system in place to ensure that delivery drivers couldn’t move
lorries before the loading process was complete.
Inspector
Coffey said: “Vesuvius UK Ltd failed to proactively assess the risks of loading
and unloading using the mobile ramps, a failure that resulted in Mr Baxter
sustaining severe injuries.
“The
company had a legal duty to ensure work equipment was safe to use and that
employees were instructed in safe systems of work and supervised, but it had
also failed to do so.
“There
should also have been a system in place to ensure that delivery drivers handed
in the keys to their vehicle to make sure that they could only leave once the
loading or unloading process was complete.”
Vesuvius
UK appeared at Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court on 5 January and pleaded guilty
to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974 and reg.3(1)(a) of the MHSWR 1999. It was
fined a total of £24,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £4815.
In
mitigation, the company said it had no previous convictions and admitted that
it had unintentionally overlooked the safety concerns for this method of work.
The court heard that the firm had decided against repairing the ramp and has
modified other ramps at the site so they include landing legs on the joining
point, to prevent them from dropping.
The
firm has subsequently created a safe system of work, which includes the use of
wheel chocks, and has trained staff to carry out the work safely. A delivery
driver safe zone has also been created, where drivers must wait until they are
told it is safe to return to their vehicles.
