HSE – Never Out to Lunch

A recent case shows that inspectors of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are never really ‘out to lunch’. It involved HSE inspectors who, whilst on their lunch break, witnessed unsafe scaffolding and leapt into action.

The inspectors had seen workers employed by a roofing firm in Newcastle-under-Lyme passing tiles down by hand from the roof of a terraced building and stacking them on a pallet. The roofers had removed two scaffolding boards from the scaffolding in order to make a makeshift platform. The men were not trained scaffolders and their action made the scaffolding unsafe, creating a clear danger that a worker could fall through the gap in the scaffolding boards. There was also an absence of edge protection and toe boards. Furthermore, the men had not been given training in the safe removal of tiles.

The HSE inspectors ordered the men to cease work immediately and to arrange a system for passing the tiles down safely. Their employer was prosecuted.

In mitigation, the roofing firm claimed that the employees were experienced and should have known how safely to remove the tiles. However, the firm was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £1,160 in costs.

One of the HSE inspectors commented that he would not normally expect someone falling from four metres onto a hard surface to survive and added that “falls remain one of the biggest killers of employees. Incidents like these could be avoided if companies ensured that they had assessed the risks from working at height, thought through a safe way of tackling a job, provided all the necessary equipment and ensured workers were fully trained and properly supervised. Employers must also ensure that protective measures remain in place for the whole duration of a contract. Proper planning for such work and taking necessary precautions to prevent falls are often simple and there is ample free guidance readily available to help companies take the right action.”

The message for business owners and managers is that the HSE will act at any time if it becomes aware of blatantly unsafe working practices.

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