Business fined after construction worker falls
January 8th 17:42 Health and Safety
The importance of good facilities management has been raised by the fining of a Lancashire firm following an employee injury.
ECH, which trades as Maple Timber Frames, was hit with a £16,000 penalty at Sevenoaks Magistrates Court after being prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The incident, which took place at a construction site in Tunbridge Wells in November 2008, saw a timber frame contractor who had been employed by the company fall five metres into a stairwell while working at height on a self-build project.
He sustained multiple fractures as a result and Melvyn Stancliffe, inspector of health and safety at the HSE, said that the man is "extremely lucky" to have not suffered more severe injuries.
"This sort of fall could easily have killed him. It is all the sadder because it should have been prevented if ECH had heeded simple safety advice," he remarked.
In November, a Kent-based scaffolding firm was fined £8,000 after a HSE employee saw personnel working on scaffolding that had no edge protection and featured inadequate boarding.
