An Aberdeen-based building and joinery firm has been sentenced after a worker suffered serious injuries when he fell three metres from scaffolding that he was dismantling.

John William Wilson, then 47 and from Aberdeen, broke his left ankle, damaged the ligaments in his right ankle was knocked unconscious and cut his head. He was in hospital overnight and remained in plaster for six weeks as a result of his injuries.

The specialist Health and Safety Division of COPFS today prosecuted Mr Wilson’s employer, Rae Brown & Company Ltd, for health and safety breaches.

Aberdeen Sheriff Court was told that on 24 July 2012 Mr Wilson was asked by Rae Brown & Company to move the scaffolding and take it to another site. He and a colleague, an apprentice, arrived at the farmhouse owned by the partner of one of the company’s directors where two scaffolding towers had been erected.

The towers had been erected in a narrow space between the farmhouse and a garden wall so that general maintenance work could be carried out.

As Mr Wilson dismantled the structure he removed some elements which left the poles unstable. As the poles moved, the metal board he was standing on moved and fell, taking Mr Wilson with it.

An HSE investigation found that neither Mr Wilson nor the apprentice working alongside him had received any formal training in the use of the type of scaffolding they were asked to work with.

Rae Brown & Company Limited, of Rose Street in Aberdeen, was fined £4,000 after pleading guilty to a breach of Regulations 4 and 8 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Liz Hunter said:

“The risks from falls at height are well known in the construction industry. Erecting and dismantling scaffolds should only be done by trained and skilled persons or under the supervision of such a person because you cannot entirely eliminate the risk of falls.

“No such training or supervision was provided by Rae Brown and Company to Mr Wilson and his apprentice. They should never have been allowed to dismantle scaffolding that had been left unsecured and unsupported in this way.

“The correct method would have used competent erectors following the instructions in the scaffold manual, including safe ladder access and removal of components from below whilst working from a complete platform. The scaffold should have been erected on level ground that was free from debris and other trip hazards.

“As a result of the company’s failings, Mr Wilson sustained injuries that left him unable to work for 11 weeks and it was pure luck that the apprentice was not seriously hurt too.”

Falls from height are the biggest single cause of workplace deaths in the construction industry. Information on improving safety is available at HSE Construction Industry Safety .

An investigation into the death of a worker installing guttering at a home in Llandudno found he was using an unsafe ladder, a court heard today.

Gethin Kirwan, 35, who lived in Hoole, Chester, was working at a property in Llanrhos Road on 4 April 2013 when he fell from the ladder, sustaining a fatal head injury.

Thomas Price, who runs a roofline products’ business, employed Mr Kirwan to carry out the work and was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at Wrexham Magistrates’ court today (18 February, 2015).

HSE’s investigation found that the ladder provided by Mr Price was in an extremely poor state. Although HSE accepted the ladder was not responsible for Mr Kirwan’s fall, it did have a number of serious safety defects which had the potential to cause serious incidents. Two other ladders provided for use on the job had similar critical defects.

HSE found the feet of the ladder were worn through, rungs were bent and one was missing. The defects were obvious through even a cursory inspection and made the ladder unfit for use.

Thomas Price, of Marnel Drive, Pentre, Deeside pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 5(1) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations and was fined £4000 and ordered to pay £4000 in costs.

The court also granted a Forfeiture & Destruction Order for the ladders.

HSE Inspector Chris Wilcox, speaking after the hearing, said:

“Although Mr Kirwan’s death was not attributable to the ladder it was in an appalling state and should never have been used.

“All work equipment must be maintained in a safe condition for use and checked regularly for any damage. For ladders, a quick and simple visual check should be done to look for any obvious defects.

“The most common and critical issues are worn or missing feet and damage to the rungs and stiles which are very easy to spot.”

An East Lothian firm has been fined for serious safety failings after a worker was left paralysed when he fell almost four metres through a fragile rooflight.

Neil Knox, then 69, of Pencaitland, East Lothian, is confined to a wheelchair after suffering irreparable damage to his spinal cord in the incident on 14 March 2013 as he replaced plastic rooflights on a farm shed in Lauder, in the Scottish Borders.

Jedburgh Sheriff Court was told today (23 Jan) that Mr Knox, a time served and experienced worker without any formal training in roofwork, was employed by David Miller Contracts Ltd to carry out roof repairs at the farm.

Mr Knox had climbed onto the roof using a ladder and crawlerboards to allow him to access the rooflights. He removed three of them before being called down for a tea break.

Mr Knox has no recollection of the incident that followed. A colleague knew he had gone back up onto the roof as he heard him moving about before hearing a loud noise. He found Mr Knox lying on the floor underneath a fourth rooflight which had a large hole in it.

Mr Knox was airlifted to hospital with broken ribs, a broken sternum and punctured lungs. His spine was fractured in two places, damaging his spinal cord, which has left him confined to a wheelchair with no movement or sensation in his legs. He also only has 50% lung efficiency due to partial paralysis of his chest muscles.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that David Miller Contracts Ltd had identified that the roof surface was likely to be fragile but failed to carry out a site-specific risk assessment and subsequently failed to plan the work properly.

The company also failed to identify that the work to replace the rooflights could be done from a working platform beneath the roof, or by using safety nets or harnesses to keep workers safe.

There were no measures in place to prevent someone standing on the fragile roof or rooflights other than the crawlerboards, which did not have any handrails to prevent workers stepping off them.

David Miller Contracts Ltd, of Steading Cottage, Newlands Farm, Gifford, East Lothian, was fined £50,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 4 of the Work At Height Regulations 2005.

Following the case, HSE inspector Ritchie McCrae said:

“This was an entirely avoidable incident. Falling from height is one of the most common reasons for injuries and even fatalities at work.

“David Miller Contracts Ltd should have been aware of the risks and the precautions that needed to be taken before starting the work. The dangers of fragile roofs are well known and consideration should have been given to using a platform underneath the rooflights or installing safety nets.

“The system of work planned by the company was unsafe, resulting in terrible life-changing injuries which have had a profound effect on Mr Knox and his family.”

Falling through fragile roofs and rooflights accounts for almost a fifth of all the fatal incidents which result from falls from height. On average, seven people are killed every year after falling through a fragile roof or rooflight. Many others suffer permanent disabling injuries.

Workers carrying out extensive boiler renovations on houses in Ilfracombe were exposed to potentially-deadly asbestos because of failures by a two local companies.

Two employees of Pilkington Plumbing and Heating Ltd were allowed to carry out removal of a back boiler and to drill a wall panel at a house in Jubilee Close, Ilfracombe, after the company started work despite not receiving an asbestos survey from North Devon Homes.

The incident, on 27 September 2012, was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which prosecuted North Devon Homes for safety failings at Barnstaple Magistrates Court today.

The court heard that Pilkington had requested asbestos survey information on the properties but decided to go ahead without having carried out a sufficient assessment of work liable to disturb asbestos.

Instead, the contractors relied on information about asbestos on North Devon Homes’ website for contractors, but this was not specific to each property being worked on and was incomplete or misleading.

As a result, asbestos insulation board (AIB) was disturbed and the workers exposed when fillets of a fire surround were moved, an AIB panel above a door was drilled and another AIB panel moved.

Residents in the affected properties, which were all being refurbished, had been vacated during remedial works to remove asbestos containing materials.

North Devon Homes Ltd, of Westacott Road, Barnstaple, pleaded guilty to a breach of Construction (Design Management) Regulations and was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay costs of £650.

Pilkington Plumbing and Heating Ltd, of Pilton Street, Pilton, Barnstaple pleaded guilty to two breaches of Control of Asbestos Regulations at an earlier hearing before the same court (on 8 October) and was fined £1,500 with £642 costs.

HSE Inspector Barry Trudgian, speaking after the hearing, said:

“As a result of North Devon Homes’ failure to provide the required information and Pilkington not waiting for the asbestos details before starting work, two workers have been needlessly exposed to asbestos.

“The risks associated with asbestos in housing stock are well-known and the regulations governing its removal are long-standing. This incident could have been avoided if Pilkington had carried out a suitable and sufficient assessment of the work liable to disturb asbestos.”

An Essex construction firm has been fined for failing to provide adequate sanitation facilities for its workers.

An inspector from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) visited the company’s site at Camper Road in Southend on 26 March 2014 and issued an Improvement Notice after finding sub-standard facilities for workers on site.

Dantel Construction Ltd was prosecuted at Southend Magistrates’ court today (7 Jan) after it failed to respond to HSE’s enforcement action by improving the welfare facilities for workers. Two months after the date of compliance of the Improvement Notice, they still hadn’t brought standards up to an acceptable level.

Dantel Construction Limited, of Wantz Road, Dagenham, was fined £ 2,000 and ordered to pay £1,940 in costs after pleading guilty to a breach of Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work act.

Health and Safety Inspector Adam Hills said:

“Construction workers have the right to sanitary and welfare facilities including having an adequate supply of hot and cold running water. There is really no excuse to subject workers to pre-Victorian conditions. Sadly, however, these basic requirements are too often neglected.

“A cold water tap and toilet on their own are not adequate. Decent facilities will positively benefit health and well-being and help prevent ailments and infection.”

A construction company with a record of endangering the lives of its workers has been fined after the Health and Safety Executive found once again it was putting workers at serious risk of falling from height.

Inspectors who paid a routine visit to AM Construction Ltd’s site in Tildasley Street, West Bromwich, on 15 May 2014 found men working on the first floor without scaffolding, edge protection, airbags or other fall prevention or mitigation measures.

A Prohibition Notice – the company’s ninth in ten years and the eighth relating to work at height – was served by HSE halting all work at height immediately.

Today (20 Jan) at Black Country Magistrates’ Court, AM Construction Ltd, of Kingshill Avenue, Hayes, Middlesex, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £5,300 and ordered to pay £1,157 in costs.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Gareth Langston said:

“Work at height is the biggest cause of death in the workplace and remains a priority area for HSE. When companies regularly fall below the minimum legal standards and repeatedly ignore advice prosecution is inevitable.

“AM Construction Ltd has become a repeat offender in ignoring HSE’s advice and failing in its duty to ensure the safety of its workforce. It is extremely lucky that no-one was killed or hurt.”