Fine for Company After Bricklayers’ Fall from Height

Following an incident which saw three bricklayers sustain serious injuries after falling from height, a construction company has been fined £200k.

North Somerset Magistrates’ Court heard how the July 2018 incident resulted in a number of serious injuries, including a broken back, broken sternum and swollen knee. An investigation found that three workers fell after a temporary stairwell cover gave way, due to the fact that it had been fitted incorrectly.

HSE found that the construction company did not have a system in place that would have identified the stairwell cover as a temporary working platform and would therefore have been treated (e.g. planning, inspection and maintenance).

Claire Oakes CFIOSH, Consultancy Manager at Simian said, “Accidents such as these are usually very simple to prevent, and a simple risk assessment can go a long way towards this. It’s tragic to see that these fundamental health and safety management omissions are still being made, causing countless needless fatalities, every single year.”

The Birmingham-based company pleaded guilty to breaching the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and was fined £200k and ordered to pay £13,332 in costs.

Falls from height remain the biggest single cause of UK workplace fatalities, and is fundamental to all of SIMIAN’s work at height training and consultancy services. If you would like to learn more about how our team of health and safety experts can support you to ensure safe work at height speak to our team today by calling 0345 6022418 or by emailing hello@simian-risk.com.