A firm have been ordered to pay a total of £35,504 after an unsafe floor collapsed and trapped 21 employers - during a health and safety meeting! Nobody was seriously hurt, but two workers suffered broken bones after the floor, which had not been built to be load bearing, crashed 9ft to the ground below. Luckily three people in the room underneath fled with moments to spare after noticing the ceiling bulging.
Hyde-based Findel Education, which employs 400 people and produces educational supplies, pleaded guilty at Tameside Magistrates' Court to failing to ensure the health and safety of employees. Expert reports indicated the fixings of the joist that held the ceiling in place were inadequate for the load taken. The company is based in the Hyde Building, which is an old mill on Ashton Road. To improve acoustics, a hanging ceiling was built in 2000. The builder also carried out some work so the space above could eventually become a function room.
It was made clear to the company that further work was needed to make it load bearing. However the only two employees who were aware that the floor was not safe - the former managing director and his assistant - both left Findel a year ago. The company had previously overhauled its health and safety management systems as the result of a similar incident in 2006.
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