Worker paralysed and another seriously

In seperate incidents a worker is paralysed and another seriously injured after falls.

Construction worker paralysed after falling from unsuitable work platform 21/07/2009

A construction firm has been fined £92,000 after one of its workers was left paralysed following a fall.

Harold Roach was working as a labourer for Property People (NW) Ltd, which had been contracted to convert riding stables into an office building at Stanhope House in Bromborough, on the Wirral.

Mr Roach was attempting to replace a number of rotting ceiling joists that were situated above an archway at the site, when the accident took place, on 23 April 2005. He was standing on plywood sheeting, which had been laid on top of the joists to distribute his weight, and when he stepped backwards on to one of the rotten joists it gave way, causing him to fall ten feet to the ground. He was taken to hospital where it was diagnosed that he had broken the T7 vertebrae in his spine, which has left him permanently paralysed from the waist down.

His employer failed to report the incident and the HSE only became aware of it four months later. Investigators visited the site in August 2005 and issued an Improvement Notice for failure to appoint a planning supervisor for a job that was scheduled to last longer than four weeks.

Property People (NW) Ltd appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on 20 July and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974 – fine £90,000, and reg. 3(1) of RIDDOR 1995 – fine £2000. It was also ordered to pay full costs of £11,404.

In mitigation, the firm said it had no previous convictions and regretted the incident. It complied with the terms of the Improvement Notice by appointing a safety officer to act as planning supervisor for the site.

HSE inspector Ian Betley said: “The injuries Mr Roach sustained were extremely serious and he will need to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

“Working at height remains the single biggest cause of workplace deaths and one of the main causes of major injury. It should be managed by implementing and enforcing suitable and sufficient control measures.

“Companies are required by health and safety legislation to take reasonable measures to ensure the safety of employees and others that may be affected by their work. In this case, a suitable platform should have been used to remove the joists from below, rather than from above. Had such steps been taken, this incident could have been avoided.”

A warehouse operation in which a man was raised up in a crate on the forks of a lift-truck ended in tragedy when he plummeted 15 feet to the ground and sustained serious leg injuries.

The incident occurred on 11 June 2008 at the Hull premises of Victoriaplumb.com, a subsidiary company of bathroom retailer, Victoria Plum Limited. Employee Christopher Scott was counting stock in the warehouse in Amsterdam Road. To access items stored on racking a three-sided wooden cage (in the foreground of the photo) normally used for containing waste was placed on the forks of a lift-truck. Mr Scott climbed into it and was raised 12-15 feet up to the racking above. He subsequently fell out of the crate on to the floor below and suffered extensive damage to his knee and foot, leaving him unable to carry out work of a heavier manual nature, or which required prolonged standing, walking, or climbing of ladders. On 14 July 2009, Victoria Plum Limited pleaded guilty to three health and safety offences at Hull Magistrates’ Court. It was fined £6000 for breaching section 2(2) of the HSWA 1974 by failing to protect its employee from risks to his safety; £3000 for failing to carry out a suitable and sufficient risk assessment in relation to forklift-truck operations, as required under reg.3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; and £3000 for breaching reg.3 of RIDDOR 1995, for failing to report the incident. It was also ordered to pay £1500 in costs to Hull City Council, which brought the prosecution. In sentencing, the court took into account the company’s early guilty plea, the fact that this was its first health and safety offence, and that measures have since been put into place to more effectively manage health and safety on the premises, including a proper risk assessment, which operators are required to sign to say they understand it. Victoria Plum also said it was unaware of the practice of lifting people on a pallet on a forklift truck, but investigating EHO, Stephen Mills, told SHP there were indications that the warehouse manager did know of the practice and effectively sanctioned it. Mr Mills explained that, prior to this incident, the company had no documented procedures for accessing goods at height, nor risk assessments for workplace transport issues, including forklift-truck usage. Although it did have a safety policy, which it produced in March 2008, it failed to implement it. He added: “The better – and safer – way of stocktaking would have been to lower the goods down from the racking, count them, and then put them back up again.” Hull City Council’s health and safety manager, Trevor Todd, commented: "Our policy on enforcement means that we will seek to work with businesses to encourage compliance. It is also our responsibility to protect workers when serious accidents happen where basic safety precautions have not been taken, and that is why this case was brought to court."