A Kent man has died after falling six metres through a fragile skylight, because health and safety measures were neglected by his employer and a major drinks wholesaler.
Robert Rogers was working for Richard Parker, trading as Ovenden Engineering, which had been contracted by Allied Domecq Spirits and Wine Ltd to fix a leak in the roof and clean the gutters of their bonded warehouse in Dover. Canterbury Crown Court heard that Mr Rogers was on the roof when he fell through one of the 80 skylights and hit the concrete floor below.
The incident occurred on 16 November 2010 and was investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). They identified failures by both defendants and the court heard that there was no safety equipment in place for anyone working on the roof, which was itself fragile. This was despite Mr Parker's employees working on the warehouse roof as often as every month. There were no crawling boards, scaffolding boards, harnesses or nets to protect workers from the risks.
As the owner of the warehouse, Allied Domecq had responsibility for the site and should have made sure contractors planned their work and carried it out safely and that proper control measures were in place. They were fined £266,677 with costs of £10,752 after admitting breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Richard Parker was ordered to pay £26,667, with costs of £4,000.
HSE inspector Guy Widdowson said, "This is a tragic case in which a devoted husband, father and grandfather has lost his life whilst at work. It is sickening that such incidents happen despite the widespread industry knowledge of the risks of working at height and of working on fragile roofs with equally fragile skylights. Mr Rogers’ death was entirely preventable. Mr Parker should have provided his workers with suitable equipment to work on the roof. He failed to do so."
He continued, "Allied Domecq do not contract out their health and safety responsibilities just by contracting out a particular job. It was their duty to ensure there was a safe system of work before the job started and that their contractors followed agreed safe procedures. They too failed to do so."
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