A Cheshire building firm has received a fine after a plasterer working on one of its sites broke his back following a fall.
The accident happened last May when the 58 year old man, who has asked to remain anonymous, suffered two cracked vertebrae along with further spinal damage and injuries to his hips and legs. The man was fitting plasterboard for CB Homes at a new six-bedroom house in Cheshire when he fell.
CB Homes, which is based in Tarporley, was found guilty of two breaches of the Working at Height Regulations 2005 following a successful prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and was fined £10,000 along with £1,376 in costs. The company pleaded guilty during the hearing at Trafford Magistrates’ Court.
The injured man, who is from Wrexham, was hired as part of a plastering company by CB Homes and had been carrying plasterboard on the first floor of the house when he lost his footing and crashed to the floor below. There was no guardrail in place and the upper floor could only be reached by ladder. The HSE said CB Homes had failed to take adequate safety precautions at the site, where it is building seven new luxury homes.
Laura Moran, HSE inspector said: “As the principal contractor on the site, CB Homes was responsible for making sure work at height could be carried out safely. If the company had planned and supervised the work properly then it could have made sure guard rails were in place.
“Companies who take on big construction projects have a legal duty to make sure the tradesmen they bring onto the site can do their job safely. CB Homes fell well below that legal requirement on this occasion.”
The HSE has taken enforcement action on 77 cases under the Working at Height Regulations 2005 during 2013/2014 with a 95% success rate. Average fines for the same period are £8,663 and over two thousand notices under the act have also been issued. The conviction rate is the highest for the last five years.
Falls at work account for more than 35% of employee injuries in 2013/2014 according to the HSE’s latest figures, and made up more than half of all injuries reported to the organisation. In addition, slips and falls were responsible for injuries to employees where they had to take more than seven days off work.
Labour Force Survey (LFS) estimates over the same period state the fall rate is between 48 and 77 per 100,000 workers, and were responsible for 29% of fatal injuries to workers. 567,000 working days are also lost every year to these types of injury. The construction industry has topped the table for both injuries and deaths occurring from falls at height since 2001/2002 with around one-fifth of falls and trips followed closely by transport and storage, and manufacturing industries.
If you would like help and advice following a fall or trip at work, please call us on 0800 028 2060 or visit our dedicated website www.accidentat-work.com for more information.