Employee Suffers Injuries Due to Fragile Rooflight
Comments Off
The HSE has been warning employers for long regarding the dangers faced by the employees working at heights. A recent case has revealed that employers are yet to act on the HSE warnings and ensure a risk-free environment for workers.
About a year back, an employee was injured very badly after falling from a height of 10 meters while working in a building on the Buttlerfield Industrial Estate in Bonnyrigg.
The victim was a 19-year old boy who fell through as the rooflight was very weak and could not support him. The roof of the building was being repaired by TQR Ltd, which had been given the contract. The company had later subcontracted David O’Neil to do the work. The ill-fated employee had been engaged by the sub contractor.
This accident led to conviction of both the contractor and the sub contractor by
According to HSE inspector Alastair Brown, employers need to pay attention to the risks posed by weak rooflights, especially since such risks are very widespread and well known. He further said that the Buttlerfield contractors could have prevented the accident had they paid due attention towards the rooflight. He added in this regard that fall from heights is a very common phenomenon, as 34 employees suffered from such falls in 2008 alone, and that this is the biggest reason of accidents in the industry currently.
In fact, a recent inspection by the HSE shows the employers have not learnt much from such incidents, as one sixth of the sites were still found to be lacking in the security measures when the HSE conducted an investigation in March this year. Click on IOSH
