HSE Issues Work at Height Warning after Stourbridge Glazing Firm Fined

The Health and Safety Executive has warned employers and the self-employed to ensure safe systems of work are in place when working at height. The warning follows HSE's prosecution of a Stourbridge glazing company after an employee was injured in a fall.

Jaysee Glass and Glazing Ltd of Lye, Stourbridge was fined £4,500 and ordered to pay costs of £1,278 at Dudley Magistrates Court on Thursday 22nd November 2007 after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 5(1) of The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, Regulation 13 of The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and Regulation 8(e) of The Work at Height Regulations 2005.

On 5th February 2007, Michael Norton was working as part of a three-man team replacing vandalised windows in the Next Generation Leisure Centre, Brierley Hill. He was using half of a double ladder set that had been split to allow two men to work at height.
The ladders were not secured and the one being used by Mr Norton slid sideways, causing him to fall approximately two metres to the ground. He fractured his wrist and received a puncture wound to the back of his hand when part of the glazing unit that he was carrying up the ladder fell onto the back of his hand.

The ladder in use was damaged, the feet were missing and it was being used without stability devices. The company was aware of the damage to the ladder and suitable stability equipment was not available in the van taken to site. Totally insufficient training was given to employees and, immediately following the fall of Mr Norton, another employee on site, although not a glazier, use the same unsecured, damaged ladder to complete the task of installing the glazing unit.

HSE inspector, Karl Raw, said: 'Each year people lose their lives or suffer injury due to failures to provide the right equipment for working at height or maintaining equipment. Underlying this is failure to assess risks, plan for safety or train employees.

'In this case, working from an improvised ladder set-up with damaged and inadequate equipment was completely unacceptable and could have resulted in much more serious injury, or even death. For this type and level of work, scaffold towers should have been loaded into the van and used correctly. This would have allowed the work to be completed safely without risk of falls resulting in injury.

'It was gratifying to see that the magistrates also clearly recognised that there is absolutely no substitute for proper training.'