Industry News » HSE warns construction companies on work at height

17-12-2007

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned construction companies to take the safety of their employees working at height seriously.

The warning follows the prosecution of a Liverpool construction company for failing to implement safe systems of work for working at height, despite repeated warnings.

On August 2006, after a complaint from a member of the public, an HSE inspector visited a site at which Maghull Construction Company Ltd was undertaking work.

The inspector found unsafe work at height practices, including inadequate edge protection and missing guardrails and toe boards.

The HSE served a prohibition notice on the company, which stopped work near open edges until suitable measures to prevent falls were in place.

However, when the inspector revisited the site on 2 November 2006, she discovered similar problems and a second prohibition notice was served.

Maghull Construction Company Ltd of Switch House, Northern Perimeter Road, Bootle was fined £3000 and ordered to pay £1908 in court costs after pleading guilty to breaching regulation 6(3) and 12(4) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 at Southport Magistrates’ Court.

Regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 covers the duty of the employer, where work is carried out at height, to take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent, so far as reasonably practicable, any person falling a distance liable to cause personal injury.

Regulation 12(4) deals with the topic of working platforms and how they should be used for work at height in order to prevent falls.