Check Working At Height Guidance Warns HSE

HSE is urging companies to make sure their employees are fully briefed about safe working methods at height.

The warning comes from HSE following its prosecution of D A Carter Ltd from Burscough, fined £7,500 and ordered to pay £5,000 costs after an employee died after a 6 metre fall from a warehouse roof.

It is essential that companies carry out a risk assessment before any work at height to minimise the possibility of an incident" said Sarah Wadham, HSE Construction Inspector.

D A Carter Limited pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 in that they did not take reasonably practicable, suitable and effective measures to prevent anyone falling from height during work on a fragile roof at Winnington Warehousing Limited in Northwich.

The case arose from an HSE investigation into an incident on 10 March 2004. Employee Mr Michael Alty went up a ladder to replace translucent lights on a roof, made from asbestos cement sheets, approximately 6m off the ground. As he replaced a roof light in the far corner of the building, the asbestos sheet gave way and he fell approximately 6m to the concrete floor below.

Mr Alty was taken to Leighton Hospital but later transferred to the Royal Staffordshire Infirmary where he later died.

During the investigation into the accident it was found that the company had not completed a risk assessment for the work. Suitable and sufficient measures, such as the use of proprietary equipment, were not used to prevent falls, no edge protection - such as scaffolding - was erected and access to the roof lights was made by walking across the asbestos cement roof.

"Falls are preventable when work is planned properly, the risks are accurately assessed, and the correct equipment is used" added Sarah Wadham.

"This was an unnecessary loss of a young man's life."

HSE statistics show 477 people in Greater Manchester suffered injuries at work in 2004-5 - more than nine per week - following a fall (see below) - bringing the total for the last four years to 1,967 - many of which resulted from a low fall. There have been 34 fatalities in the North West since 2001, 17 of them in Greater Manchester.

Source: HSE Press release