WIREDGOV

An animal feed producer and a maintenance contractor have been fined after a woman fell five metres through a fragile warehouse roof in Staffordshire.

The 27-year-old woman, who does not want to be named, was repairing a gutter at Provimi Ltd's site in Eastern Avenue, Lichfield, when she tripped and fell through a rooflight.

She fractured two vertebrae and suffered extensive bruising in the fall, keeping her off work for two months, Burton-on-Trent Magistrates' Court heard.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Provimi Ltd and the woman's employer, Alan Riley, trading as Riley & Sons, following the incident on 4 April 2011.

The court heard Provimi had obtained two quotations to repair the warehouse roof, one from a roofing maintenance firm and one from Mr Riley, who had never worked on fragile roofs before.

The court was told Provimi commissioned Mr Riley because his price was £20,000 less than the roofing firm, but did not check whether he was competent to carry out the work.

HSE's investigation into the incident found the boards on the roof had no guardrails, workers had no harnesses, and there was no netting underneath to prevent them from landing on the concrete floor.

Magistrates heard Provimi made no attempt to stop the work and its staff even helped Mr Riley by lifting materials to the unprotected roof edge.

 HSE inspector Mr Lindsay Hope said after yesterday's hearing:

"Provimi decided to cut costs by hiring a cheap contractor without checking whether he was competent to do the job.

"When Provimi staff saw there was no protection to prevent a fall at the edge of the warehouse roof, the company should have stepped in straightaway to stop this unsafe work, but instead helped Alan Riley to carry on.

"Alan Riley should never have taken on the work. He had no experience of working on fragile roofs and did not take enough precautions to protect workers on the roof and because of this a woman suffered serious injuries which could easily have been fatal.

"Clear guidance on working at height is available from HSE and it is unacceptable to see such failings."

Provimi Ltd, of Dalton Airfield Industrial Estate, Dalton, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £1,924 costs.

Alan Riley, 62, of Salisbury Avenue, Burton-on-Trent, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £1,924 costs.

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training, new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety."
3. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."
4. HSE guidance on working at height is available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/campaign/wahthebasics.pdf .

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