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Glaziers put at risk by last minute compromise on fall prevention measures
Manchester property company, Options Properties Ltd, has been prosecuted after work was carried out at the sixth floor of a city apartment block without properly planned measures to ensure safety.
HSE Inspectors found two men working at a height of over 20m adjacent to a sheer drop at the Madison Apartments in Trafford on 14 May 2009. The men worked for P&R Structural Glazing Ltd who were contracted by Options Properties to install glass balconies to the properties in the newly-built apartments.
The men originally worked from scaffolding. However, the scaffold was removed by Options Properties and a harness attached to a guardrail used to arrest a fall. The company had “no way of knowing” the effectiveness of this arrangement.
The inspector who visited the site was so concerned that he immediately issued Prohibition Notices on both companies, ordering them to stop work..
‘Beggars belief’ that lives put at risk
Options Properties Ltd, of Princess Street, Manchester, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 by failing to ensure that the work was properly planned and supervised and carried out in a safe manner. The company was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,115.
Investigating HSE Inspector Ian Betley said:
“It beggars belief that Options Properties Ltd risked the lives of these two men for the cost of a few extra days of scaffold hire.
There is no way of knowing whether the guardrail and harness set up would have held these men on the balcony. Had one of them slipped, he would have taken his colleague with him and they could both have fallen to their deaths.
I would advise other companies to have a proper work plans in place and to stick to them until the job is completed.”