Poorly planned work at height contributed to a member of the public was struck by a falling piece of masonry, as he walked down a street in Surrey.
Guildford Magistrates’ Court heard Majestic Construction Ltd was undertaking work above shops on Camberley High Street to clean stonework and install pigeon spikes, when the incident took place on 31 May 2012.
Workers were using a MEWP to carry out the work at height and, as it was being repositioned, it struck a building and dislodged a section of masonry weighing 8kg. The object fell eight metres to the pavement below and struck a pedestrian on the shoulder, knocking him to the ground. He suffered bruising to his shoulder and muscle spasms.
The HSE investigated the incident and found the company had installed barriers around the near-side support legs of the MEWP, but there was nothing in place to prevent people from walking directly underneath the overhead work.
HSE inspector Andrew Cousins told SHP the danger zone should have been cordoned-off with additional barriers. He said: “This was an entirely preventable incident, which resulted in a large chunk of masonry being knocked on to an entirely innocent pedestrian. It is pure luck that it missed his head, otherwise he could well have been killed.
“Simply fencing off the area beneath the works and providing an alternative route around it is all that was necessary.
“Where people are working overhead in a public area they must exclude the public from the work area wherever possible. Public safety needs to be proactively managed in exactly the same way as that of those undertaking the work, and not just left to chance.”
Majestic Construction appeared in court on 4 March and pleaded guilty to breaching reg.10(2) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, for failing to take suitable steps to prevent people being struck by a falling object. It was fined £8000 and ordered to pay £5473 in costs.
In mitigation, the firm said it had no previous convictions and fully cooperated with the investigation. It accepted the system of work was unsafe and has subsequently reviewed its work-at-height procedures.
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