Work At Height Fatality Leads To 6 Month Sentence
An employer has been sentenced to 6 months in prison suspended for 2 years after breaching Work at Height regulations and not holding employer liability insurance.
The worker was carrying out roof replacement work at the time back in May 2021. It was the final day on site for the team, when the employee was climbing a triple extending access ladder on the roof, to reach scaffolding. He was also carrying a pile of slate on his shoulder. When he slipped he fell to the ground, sustaining fatal injuries.
An investigation by the HSE found that the interlocking sections of the ladder they had been using did not allow for three points of contact, especially when a load was being carried.
As well as this the worker was wearing loose fitted footwear meaning he had no firm foothold on the ladder. Further to this, the slate which he was carrying on his shoulder was not suitably transported.
The roofing contractors was fined significantly after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of The Work at Height Regulations 2005 and Section 1(1) of the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969. He not only received a fine he was also sentenced to 6 months in prison, suspended for 2 years.
