H20 Plumbing Services Limited has been fined £100,000, and ordered to pay costs of £25,000 after pleading guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The prosecution was brought after one of their employees suffered fatal injuries after falling from a roof.
The company was contracted to carry out repairs to two motor rooms located on the roof of a building in Birmingham. Two workers set up a station outside of a protected area to mix mortar, as there was a lack of space. The mixing station consisted of a tarpaulin sheet placed on top of the roof with a plasterer's bath placed on top, and the corners of the tarpaulin were held down with bags of rubble.
When the employees were clearing up at the end of the day, the tarpaulin blew open and landed over the edge of the building. This led to one of the workers attempting to retrieve the sheet, but they stepped off the side of the building, falling 14 metres. The person's injuries were fatal.
Investigating the incident, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that H20 Plumbing Services Limited failed to ensure the safety of its employees, and they were subsequently prosecuted.
HSE inspector Amy Kalay said, "This incident was obviously foreseeable. The employees of H20 working at the site were effectively left to their own devices with equipment and a system that was not wholly suited for the task at hand. A suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk, suitable planning, implementation of suitable control measures and adequate and effective site supervision would have prevented this incident from occurring."
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