Timber building firm fined after fall
6 August 2012Modular timber building producer RG Stones (Buildings) Ltd has been fined £6,500 after an employee fell through a canopy, missed safety landing bags and suffered multiple injuries.
The Wrexham business was replacing the canopy between two buildings at Lakelands School in Ellesmere when the accident happened last August.
Worker Wiliam Phillips, 52, was working on the canopy with two colleagues when he fell 3m onto the concrete floor below, fracturing his back, sternum, six ribs and right wrist. He has been unable to work since.
Shrewsbury magistrates court recently heard that Health & Safety Executive (HSE) investigators had found that no edge protection had been used on the structure. Two soft landing bags were on site, but not in the area where work was being carried out.
"This incident was entirely preventable," said HSE inspector Guy Dale. "The company had appreciated the risks of a fall, shown by the provision of landing bags. It's a shame they did not think to put them under the area where they were most needed."
Besides the fine, RG Stones was ordered to pay £3,105 costs.
