Two directors of a decorating company have appeared in court after a worker suffered brain damage following a fall at a construction site.
Huddersfield Magistrates’ Court heard that Foster Turn-Key Contracts Ltd was the principal contractor during the refurbishment of Ashenhurst Student Village in Newsome, West Yorkshire. The project required the student accommodation to have kitchens and bathrooms replaced, and redecoration work across the site.
Self-employed decorator, Trevor Dawson, was working as a painter for Liversedge Decorating Contractors Ltd, which had been sub-contracted to carry out the decorating. On 15 August 2007, he was painting the walls in a stairwell when he fell from a stepladder, and suffered serious head injuries. There were no witnesses and, due to his injuries Mr Dawson can’t remember the incident. He has been left with permanent brain damage, which has been confined to life in a care home.
The HSE’s investigation found that both firms had allowed work to be carried out that was not adequately planned or supervised. It was also found that inappropriate equipment had been used. HSE inspector David Stewart said: “The ladder Trevor Dawson used, which we believe may have caused or contributed to his fall, was simply not suitable for the work he was doing. It was a domestic stepladder, which should not have been allowed on the site. In this situation, a tower scaffold would have been much more appropriate.”
Liversedge Decorating Contractors appeared in court on 16 March and pleaded guilty to breaching reg. 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, for failing to adequately plan and supervise the work, and was fined £2000 and £1000 in costs. Paul Daniel and Clive Dewhirst, both directors of the firm, also pleaded guilty to the same charge and were each fined £1000 and £500 in costs.
Foster Turn-Key Contracts appeared at the same hearing and pleaded guilty to breaching reg. 22 (1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, for failing to properly plan and risk-assess work at the site. It was fined £2000 and ordered to pay £1000 in costs.
In mitigation, both firms entered early guilty pleas and neither had any previous convictions. Liversedge Decorating Contractors said it has contracted a health and safety consultancy to review its work-at-height procedures. Foster Turn-Key Contracts has subsequently gone into liquidation and is no longer trading.
Inspector Stewart added: “In this instance, individual directors of a company were found guilty for not planning and supervising the work properly. This case should send a clear message to company directors about their responsibilities for health and safety.”
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