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Risk from installation of flue liner from roof ladder not properly assessed
Fluetech Ltd has been prosecuted after a workman fell from the roof of a two-storey house because the firm paid “scant attention to safe systems of working at height”.
The 33 year old man fractured his back in the 7m fall from the roof of a house in Leeds on 19 February 2010. He was in hospital 15 days and suffered serious back injuries that will affect him the rest of his working life.
He was installing a flue liner in the chimney and had erected a roof ladder which ”gave way” sending him falling to the ground below. He was unaware of a dormer extension which had prevented proper engagement of the roof ladder ridge hook.
HSE investigators found that the company failed to assess the risks properly before the work started. They were unaware of the dormer and failed to provided the correct equipment for the job.
Scaffolding should have been provided
Fluetech Ltd, pleaded guilty at Leeds Magistrates’ Court to three health and safety offences. The company from Halifax, was fined a total of £13,500 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £3,873.
HSE Inspector David Welsh said:
“This worker has suffered horrendous and life-changing injuries as a result of the company’s numerous failures. What makes matters worse is that, after the man was taken to hospital severely injured, the company allowed its employees to finish that job and subsequently similar jobs, all using the same unsafe systems of work.
The company relied far too much on using portable ladders alone. At this job, they should have used scaffolding or a tower scaffold to prevent the roof ladder falling all the way to the ground.
he company was very poor at assessing and managing the risks of working at heights. Anyone who works in the construction industry knows that falls are the commonest cause of death and serious injury in the workplace.”