Two companies fined a total of £147,000 for unsafe work at height

James Durrans and Sons were fined £120,000 (inc.costs) and Kingswinford Engineering fined £27,000 (inc. costs) for failings related to work at height.

The circumstances were:

• In April 2016 James Durrans and Sons enlisted the services of Kingswinford Engineering Co to carry out repair work on the roof of its premises.
• Neither James Durrans and Sons nor Kingswinford Engineering risk-assessed the task and implement a safe system of work for the roof access. 
• Instead, each company had assumed that the other had systems in place to protect workers from the risks of working at height. 
• As a result, there were failings relating to how the work – specifically access to the roof – was planned, managed and monitored.
• A “man cage” was lifted into position by a forklift truck.
• The cage fell short of the roof level by about 0.9 m.
• There was also a gap between the cage and the roof, which workers needed to climb across.
• The roof itself was wet and slippery.
• There were no barriers in place to prevent workers falling.

The HSE inspector said:
“This incident highlights the need for contractors to be managed properly. Both the contractors and those engaging them must assess the risks of the site and the specific work to ensure it can be done safely. In this case, no risk assessment was carried out and arrangements made to access the roof put workers at significant risk of falling from height.