Young Worker Falls From Unprotected Edge

A Doncaster based construction firm has been fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £803 in legal costs after one of their young workers suffered a serious fall.

The unnamed 18-year-old employee was working on the first floor of a house being built in West Butterwick, Scunthorpe. The worker was using a trowel to remove mortar from some breeze blocks when he stepped backwards and accidentally fell through an unguarded stairway. The injuries he sustained from the fall include; two fractured ribs and contusions. 

The HSE investigated the incident and concluded that Trumax Building Ltd had not put the required safety precautions in place. Neither a proprietary guardrail system or traditional scaffold guardrails were used to prevent people from falling through the opening. 

Trumax Building Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 6 (3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The HSE Inspector who handled this case said:

'This incident could so easily have been avoided by simply carrying out the correct control measures and safe working practices, particularly to protect young and inexperienced workers. In this case, someone suffered serious injuries that could have been avoided by installing guardrails around the stairway opening to prevent workers from falling from height.'

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