Construction company fined after worker’s roof fall

A Derbyshire based engineering construction company has been prosecuted after a worker fell and suffered severe injuries.

A worker was repairing a fibreboard roof of a barn and using two homemade crawling boards when he fell 6meters on to the floor below, sustaining serious injuries to his head, hip, and lungs.

Derby Magistrates Court heard how at the time of the incident, 30 July 2014, he was working as part of a pair to replace the roofing panels. One of his colleagues was under the roof in a ‘man basket’ that has been attached to a telehandler, when the incident happens he had to climb down the boom of the machine to help the colleague.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that there were not sufficient platforms or coverings for the roof to protect workers from the fall. The risk assessment and method statement, which would have told the workers how to run the work was in the office but also not specific to the job. There were also no separate controls for the man basket, leaving the worker stranded when his colleague fell.

Allen and Hunt Construction Engineers Ltd of Thorpe, Derbyshire, pleaded guilty to Sections 4(1), 7 and 9 (2) of the Working at Height regulations and was fined a total of £267,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,750 and a victim surcharge of £120.