A builder suffered severe head injuries after he fell headfirst through a stairwell opening while working on a construction site.
Ballenwood Properties Ltd was fined a total of £4000 and ordered to pay costs of £2970 at Pontefract Magistrates’ Court on 19 February. The sentence follows an investigation into the death of a contractor, who was working for the firm, during the building of a dormer bungalow at Redhill View, Castleford. The company pleaded guilty to breaching reg.6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and reg.3(1) of RIDDOR for failure to report the accident within the required timeframe.
Magistrates heard that on the day of the incident, 18 January 2008, workers had been laying floorboards on the first floor of the property, when rain forced them to stop work.
In order to protect the boards from the rain the workers began to cover them with plastic sheeting. But while they were laying down the covers, one of the builders, a 59-year-old man, fell headfirst through a gap in the floor where stairs were scheduled to be built. He fell about 2.7 metres and received severe head injuries that kept him in hospital for more than four months. As a result, it is unlikely he will ever be able to return to work.
In mitigation, Ballenwood Properties said that it entered an early guilty plea and that this was the first time it had been prosecuted for safety offences. The company also revealed that it is now seeking professional advice to improve its health and safety management.
HSE inspector, David Welsh, told SHP: “Internal falls within buildings are frequent and the risks are often not dealt with adequately. The simplest way to deal with these situations is to remove the risks entirely. This can be done by covering the opening with boards, or putting a guardrail in place. If this is not possible then it might be acceptable to create a soft landing system directly beneath the affected area.”
He concluded: “Not only did this company not have any of these measure in place but it also failed to report the accident within 10 days, which it is obligated to do under RIDDOR guidelines. The HSE takes the non-reporting of major injuries seriously and, in appropriate circumstances, will add this to any prosecution charges that are brought.”
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