Employee Wins £5,000 in Compensation for Work Fall

Posted on Jul 01, 2009 
 

A carpenter has been awarded £5,000 in compensation, and his employer fined £18,000, after he fell 5 metres in an accident at work. 
 
The man fell when he was attempting to tighten shutters to allow concrete to be cast for the next floor of a school.  
 
Manoeuvring and fixing the shutters and brackets on the construction site required workers to lean out beyond the area which was protected by safety guard rails and the carpenter was reaching beyond the handrail and midrail when he fell over 5 metres to the platform below.  
 
In the accident, the carpenter sustained a dislocated thumb, fractured collar bone and ribs, and suffered with air and blood in the chest cavity. He had to stay in hospital for six days and was unable to work for more than six months.  
 
Before the installation of the shutters on site, harnesses were worn by workers who were installing the concrete slabs. It was noted that no risk assessment had been carried out, or method statement provided, in relation to working with the shuttering.  
 
The HSE carried out an investigation into the accident and found that there were no appropriate anchor points identified in the area where the carpenter was working which he could have used for the type of harness or lanyard provided. It was also found that none of the workers in that team had received any training on how to rescue someone if they fell and became suspended in the harness.  
 
London based Bouygues (UK) Ltd was fined £18,000, ordered to pay costs of £2,796 and ordered to pay the carpenter £5,000 by the City of London Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.