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Building company prosecuted, after plasterer falls from height (1 December 2014)

Date: 01/12/2014
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Building company prosecuted, after plasterer falls from height

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has successfully prosecuted a building company, after a plasterer fell from height while working at a six-bedroom mansion in Cheshire and broke his back.

The worker was contracted to CB Homes Ltd – the main contractor for a development of seven homes at Mondrem Green on Chester Road in Little Budworth. The company had hired a plastering firm to plaster the inside of the houses but an investigation by the HSE revealed the firm had failed to make sure the work could be carried out safely. The company had failed to make sure adequate guard rails were in place on the first floor landing to prevent falls.

On 22 May 2013, the unnamed 58-year-old from Wrexham had been fitting plasterboard when he fell three metres from the open landing. The injured plasterer had needed to use a ladder to reach the first floor, but there was no guard rail in place along the open edge on the landing. He was carrying a piece of plasterboard when he lost his footing and fell to the ground floor below. He suffered two cracked vertebrae, along with damage to his spine, hips and legs.

On Friday, 28 November at Trafford Magistrates’ Court, CB Homes Ltd of High Street in Tarporley was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £1,376 in prosecution costs, after pleading guilty to two breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 states:

“Every employer shall ensure that work at height is properly planned; appropriately supervised; and carried out in a manner which is, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe.”

Regulation 6(3) of the same regulations states:

“Where work is carried out at height, every employer shall take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, any person falling a distance liable to cause personal injury.”

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Laura Moran said:

“A plasterer suffered serious injuries in the fall which could – and should – have been prevented.

“As the principal contractor on the site, CB Homes was responsible for making sure work at height could be carried out safely.

“If the company had planned and supervised the work properly, then it could have made sure guard rails were in place.
“Companies who take on big construction projects have a legal duty to make sure the tradesmen they bring onto the site can do their job safely.

“CB Homes fell well below that legal requirement on this occasion.”

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Personal injury claimants have three years from the date of injury in which to claim for construction work injuries, including compensation for:

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For expert legal advice on making no win no fee Construction Workers Injured at Work Claims, call Duncan Lewis personal injury solicitors on 020 7923 4020.

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