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36 Spring 2022 HEALTH & SAFETY A sole trader has been fined for failing to plan, manage and monitor construction work being carried out under their control. Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard how Rytis Tamasaukas was the principal contractor carrying out extensive refurbishment works to extend a detached property in Chigwell, Essex. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried out six site inspections between 1 May and 28 November 2018. Mr Tamasaukas was served with three prohibition notices for breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and another prohibition notice for the stability of roof trusses. He was also served three improvement notices for the control of wood dust, access and egress and competent supervision. Following a revisit to the site by the HSE inspector David King it was discovered that Mr Tamasaukas continued in his failure to plan, manage and monitor the construction work being carried out under his control. He also failed to comply with the prohibition notice for work at height and the improvement notice which referred to the training of a competent Site Manager. Mr Tamasaukas, formerly of 27 Neterfield Gardens, Barking and now resident in Romford, Essex, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 15(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and two counts of breaching Section 33(1)(g) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. He was ordered to serve a community order, which involves undertaking 280 hours of unpaid work within the next 12 months and ordered to pay costs of £5,000. CONTRACTOR FINED FOR FAILING TO COMPLY WITH HEALTH AND SAFETY REGULATIONS Infiniti Roofing and Construction Ltd has been sentenced for breaches of safety regulations after an employee fell through a gap in scaffolding and sustained multiple injuries whilst working on a building at Havers Hill, Eastfield, Scarborough. York Magistrates’ Court heard that, a 20-year-old labourer who was working on the roof, fell three metres through a gap in the scaffolding onto an office roof below, causing injuries to his left wrist and hand. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that when the labourer was moving insulation panels on the roof, he stumbled and fell through the gap. Although Infiniti Roofing and Construction Ltd had taken measures to reduce the risk of a fall the scaffolding did not fully extend along the roof in the area where the insulation panels were stacked and stored. The fall caused the labourer to sustain a dislocation to his left wrist and a broken bone in his hand which has required him to undergo several operations. Infiniti Roofing and Construction Ltd of Cayton Low Road, Scarborough, North Yorkshire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3 (1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The company has been fined £22,667 and ordered to pay £7,228 in costs. SAFETY BREACHES CAUSED WORKER TO FALL FROM HEIGHT Source: HSE Source: HSE