Worker died after fall from roof

A company has been fined after an employee died after falling through a skylight.

Leicester Crown Court heard how the deceased was working with another employee on the roof, re-siting a heater and new chimney flue, when the incident occurred on 31 October 2014.

He suffered severe injuries and died from these injuries approximately six months later.

The Health and Safety Executive found that the work at height on a fragile roof was not appropriately planned, supervised or carried out in a safe manner.

IKO-Design Ltd of Parker Drive, Leicester pleaded guilty of breaching Regulation 4 and Regulation 9(2) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The firm was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £35,000.

Tragic incident

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Michelle Morrison said: “A well planned job would have identified the risks from working on a fragile roof, so that steps could have been taken to prevent the risk of anyone falling from height. This tragic incident was entirely avoidable if appropriate controls had been put in place.

“Proper precautions should be taken when working on roofs and near fragile skylights, even for short duration work. Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standards.”

Approaches to managing the risks associated Musculoskeletal disorders

In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, we hear from Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomics Consultant at HSE’s Science and Research Centre, about the different approaches to managing the risks associated with Musculoskeletal disorders.

Matt, an ergonomics and human factors expert, shares his thoughts on why MSDs are important, the various prevalent rates across the UK, what you can do within your own organisation and the Risk Management process surrounding MSD’s.

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