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36 Autumn/Winter 2021 HEALTH & SAFETY MULTIPLE FRACTURES WHEN HIT BY FALLING LOAD B ritcon (UK) Ltd have been sentenced for safety breaches after a worker was struck by a falling load from a mechanical excavator. Leeds Magistrates’ Court heard that Britcon (UK) Ltd was appointed as a contractor to construct a surge pit as part of a renewal and refurbishment project at the McCain’s Foods (GB) Limited site at Havers Hill in Scarborough. Part of the process involved removing sheet piles from the ground. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that, 66-year-old Stephen Gouldthorpe was assisting with cleaning sheet piles as they were removed from the surge pit by a Doosan DX 225 LC3, 360-degree excavator. The excavator had an attachment known as an EMV 300 pile attachment fitted to remove the sheet piles from the ground. The mechanical excavator was removing a seven-metre sheet pile weighing approximately 190 kg to a lay down area when a safety chain slipped causing the pile to fall and strike Mr Gouldthorpe. He suffered a fractured left tibia and fibula and ankle, a fractured right clavicle, seven fractured ribs, pulmonary contusion and fractured vertebrae. Britcon (UK) Ltd of Midland Road, Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, DN16 1DQ pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company has been fined £570,000 and ordered to pay £40,054.68 in costs. A roofing contractor has received a suspended sentence after an employee fell approximately 30 feet through a glass skylight on a warehouse roof in Blackburn. Preston Crown Court heard Nizamuddin Gorji was engaged to over-clad the existing roof. He employed three operatives to carry out the work which commenced on 13 May 2020. The following day one of the employees fell through the roof sustaining severe life changing injuries to his pelvis, arm, knee and face and has undergone extensive surgery since. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Mr Gorji failed to adequately plan the roof work or consider the equipment required. There was no scaffolding in place around the building or under-slinging nets, covering fragile skylights and asbestos cement sheets. He had not completed any health and safety training and did not adequately train the operatives he employed. Nizamuddin Gorji of Woodbine Road, Blackburn pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 9 (2) and 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. He received a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years and was ordered to pay costs of £3,000. WORKER FALLS 30 FEET THROUGH SKYLIGHT A shopfitting company has been fined after an employee suffered multiple fractures after falling fifteen feet from scaffolding. Manchester Magistrates Court heard how, an employee of TA Knox Shopfitters Ltd was working from a tower scaffold at the front of the Footasylum Store in the Trafford Centre, Manchester, when the scaffold moved throwing him off balance. He fell backwards against the safety rail of the scaffold, which gave way and he fell fifteen feet to the ground. The employee suffered ten fractured ribs, a fractured shoulder and a collapsed lung. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the safety rail had not been fixed in place correctly, causing it to give way when the employee fell against it. It also found that the tower scaffold had not been erected by somebody with the appropriate skills, knowledge and training. If the edge protection been suitable and sufficient and the tower constructed by somebody competent to erect tower scaffolds, the incident could have been prevented. TA Knox Shopfitters Ltd of Hollingworth Road, Bredbury, Stockport pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £18,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,623. EMPLOYEE FALLS FROM SCAFFOLDING AS SAFETY RAIL GIVES WAY