Prosecutions

Nottingham Magistrates' Court today the owner of the company, and his son, after a worker was seen risking his life on a roof in Newark, on 8 June 2010.

A member of the public reported the worker to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after photographing him undertaking cleaning work on the roof, which contained around eighty potentially fragile roof lights, using no safety equipment, edge protection or harnesses to prevent falls.

Both father and son pleaded guilty to breaching section 4(1)(c) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. They were fined £2,500 each and ordered to pay costs of £2,604 between them.

After the hearing, a HSE inspector said:

"Fortunately no one was injured on this occasion, but employees were at risk. This was a blatant disregard for health and safety which put people in danger.

"Roofing work requires careful planning and assessment of the risks involved. In this case employees were working without the correct equipment to protect them from falls.

"Falls from height are the biggest cause of workplace deaths and it's crucial that employers make sure work is properly planned, appropriately supervised and that sufficient measures are put in place to protect staff from the risks."