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A construction company has been sentenced for safety breaches after a sub-contracted joiner suffered life-changing injuries.
Lincoln Magistrates’ Court heard that construction company Mager Homes Ltd. had been contracted to complete a house build in Tetney, Grimsby. In December 2016, the worker was on the first floor level installing joists and flooring. Whilst laying a floorboard, he stepped back and missed his footing, falling through a gap between the joists to the ground below.
The 60-year-old father of one suffered broken vertebrae which left him paralysed from the chest down, wheelchair-bound and unlikely to ever work again.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Mager Homes Ltd. failed to provide workers with an adequate working platform. It was also found the company failed to install any edge protection or fall prevention equipment to minimise the risk of falls on-site.
Mager Homes Ltd. of Laburnum Farm, Ludborough, Grimsby pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £26,000 with £795 costs.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Jennifer Elsegood commented: “The contractor’s injuries were life-changing and he could have easily been killed. This serious and devastating incident could have been avoided if basic safe guards, such as an appropriate working platform, or measures to mitigate falls, had been in place.”
