Housing group fined after workman fell from his ladder

[dutchman]

Whitefriars housing association has been fined £15,000 after an employee fell almost 12ft from his ladder.



The 52-year-old plumber was inspecting a gutter at one of the company’s properties in Jeliff Street, Coventry, on June 6, 2011 when he fell.

He broke his pelvis and was in hospital for four months. He has since returned to work following several months off to recover from his injury.

The Health and Safety Executive prosecuted the association - which managed 22,000 former council homes in the city - after an investigation found the base of the ladder had not been properly secured.

Coventry Magistrates' Court heard on Thursday that employees had not been given any instruction or equipment to enable them to secure their ladders effectively.

Specifically the association had failed to provide standoff devices to allow employees to work around guttering without resting the ladder against the guttering.

In addition it had not undertaken suitable routine monitoring to check if their employees were working safely, the court heard.

HSE inspector Ed Fryer said the association undertook a large amount of work at height, but its management of this was well below the expected standard with work at height not properly planned, organised or carried out safely.

Whitefriars was also ordered to pay £5,980 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Mr Fryer said: "A housing group doing such regular work at height should have known better, but as it was the work was not properly planned, organised or carried out in a safe manner, which resulted in this entirely preventable incident and a serious injury for the worker.

"Falls from height are the biggest cause of death and injury in the workplace and it is vital to plan effectively. As this incident shows, you cannot leave it to chance when the consequences are so severe."

[dutchman]

This story doesn't surprise me in the least. Whitefriars employees routinely work without the correct tools or supervision of any kind. I've yet to see a housing manager on site when work is in progress, the only way they can be contacted is by mobile phone.