Thomas Deighton, of UK-based ATD Fabrications was fined £14,000 (€20,700) plus costs of £6,000 (€9,000) at Sheffield Crown Court this week for failing to provide a safe system of work for an employee after an incident on 18 May 2004 when a construction worker sustained a number of broken bones and serious facial injuries after falling through a mezzanine floor he was helping to build.

Falls from height are the number one cause of workplace deaths and the second most common cause of major injury to employees, accounting for 15% of all such injuries.

In the UK, 67 people died and nearly 4,000 suffered a serious injury as a result of a fall from height in the workplace during 2003 to 2004.

Commenting on the prosecution, David Redman, construction principal inspector with the HSE said: “The injuries sustained in this particular incident were severe and indeed could have been fatal. Falls from height continue to be the greatest cause of fatal and serious injuries within the workplace generally, and it is a particular problem for a construction industry in which the accident toll is already too high.”

He added: “This case sends out a very clear message and emphasises the need to ensure that safe systems of work are devised and implemented to allow persons to work at height safely.”

The HSE has stressed some key points to consider when working at height:

  • Don’t start the work until you have properly planned how you are going to do it, and you have fully considered, assessed and controlled the risks involved. Don’t underestimate these – simply ‘taking care’ is not enough and proper precautions must be in place.
  • Choose the right work equipment and give serious thought as to whether it will serve to actually prevent a fall, like a guardrail or a working platform, rather than simply lessen its consequences, like a net or an airbag.
  • Making do without the right equipment can lead to injury or death, as well as prosecution if the law is broken.

Further information to help people who work at height, employers and others with responsibilities under the law, is available free on the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/falls/. The website includes a number of ‘from experience’ case studies together with advice on the precautions that should be taken to prevent such accidents.