October 19, 2017

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In-court

Suspended sentence in fall case

A sole trader from London has been given a six month prison sentence, suspended for eighteen months, after an employee fell from height.

Southwark Crown Court was told that, on 11 November 2016, James Gibson was undertaking a refurbishment project when a worker fell through an unprotected hole in the ground floor.

The worker fell through the hole measuring approximately 1.5 metres by 3 metres, into a basement below and suffered serious head injuries.

The Health and Safety Executive found that failures in health and safety management had led to a number of fall from height issues on site, including a lack of sufficient edge protection to prevent workers from falling through the opening in the floor.

James Gibson of Brent Street, London, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6 (3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. He was given a six month prison sentence suspended for eighteen months and ordered to pay costs of £8,442.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Matt Raine said: “Falls from height remain one of the biggest causes of workplace fatalities and major injuries. Had the employer in this case, James Gibson, implemented adequate control measures to protect the health and safety of his workers, this incident could have been prevented.”

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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