Employers Urged to Prevent Workplace Falls

Employers have been urged to adopt precautionary measures at workplaces for the safety of employees while they are working at heights. The appeal has been made in the wake of injuries received by a farm employee when he fell through a fragile roof.

Employee Charles Leslie Nendick fell from a roof while undertaking repair works on May13, 2008, and suffered severe injuries to his spine, pelvis and hip, and also a head injury.

HSE took employer Francis Caley to the Hull and Holderness Magistrates Court for infringement of section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974. He was found responsible for negligence, for which he was fined £8,000 and another £1,858 towards other costs. During the hearing of the case, the court felt Caley had failed to provide sufficient safety measures to prevent such a fall.

Reacting to the judgement, HSE Inspector Alan Sheldon said HSE provides sufficient guidelines on ways and means of mitigating the risks involved while working on roofs, especially so for the agriculture sector, which has seen as many as 70 casualties in the past ten years, mainly due to workers falling off weak structures. The Working at Height Course is aimed at enabling those responsible for such work, such as health and safety managers, facilities managers and safety supervisors, to undertake a suitable and sufficient risk assessment - click on Working at Height Training.

Giving more information on the case, he said Nendick fell about 16 feet to the ground and suffered grave injuries as he tried to step on to the roof of the farm building from a ladder. He felt due care and precautions were not in place to avoid this mishap.