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Blog posts : "fall from height"

Construction company fined half a million pounds for fatal demolition work

McGee Group Limited was fined £500,000 with £66,236.22 in costs for a breach of Regulation 22(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, following the death of 33-year-old labourer Dainius Rupsys in April 2014.

Southwark Crown Court heard that Mr Rupsys from Lithuania w…

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Preventing injuries at work

Photo represents a small business set-up

Minor injuries at work are common, but by following the simple steps below, you can make sure that your workplace is safe.

Repetitive Strain Injuries

Repetitive strain injuries (RSIs) can occur when individuals sit at desks for long periods of time. Today, virtually all office jobs require…

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The wind industry: Five vital considerations for rescue and descent systems

Photo shows a row of wind turbinesOne of the most worrying statistics published by the Health and Safety Executive in recent years shows that of all fatalities occurring in a work environment between 2013 and 2014, almost 3 out of every 10 were due to falls from height. While the HSE do not provide figures for specific industries in…

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Dos and don’ts for working at height

Photo shows a painter standing on a stepladderWorkplace injuries can pose very real dangers in our daily jobs, particularly when the task involves working high up on a building or other structure. Safety statistics make for grim reading, with accidents on building sites responsible for more than their proportionate share of all fatal injuries a…

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Chessington fined £150,000 for four-year-old girl's injuries

Photo shows the gap in a fence where the four-year-old girl fellChessington World of Adventures has been sentenced for safety failings that led to a four-year-old girl suffering life-changing head injuries when she fell from a raised walkway while queuing for a ride.

The youngster, from Kent, fell nearly four metres while waiting in line for the Tomb Blaster ri…

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Hampshire aircraft maintenance company fined after workers injured in falls

Photo shows an aircraft

ATC (Lasham) Ltd. (a Hampshire-based aircraft maintenance company) has been sentenced for safety failures after three workers were injured in separate falls at its airfield in Lasham – two in the same month.

The company was fined a total of £35,000 and ordered to pay £32,430 in costs after admi…

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Leicestershire firm fined after two workers fell four metres

Photo shows the work platform which fell from a telehandler injuring two workers

A Leicestershire building company has been fined after two workers fell four metres from an insecure platform balanced on the raised forks of a telehandler.

On 26 September, Leicester Magistrates' Court heard that Caplin Homes Ltd. was building a new house on land in Stretton Road, Great Glen, wh…

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Roofing firm in court over Chorley school roof fall

Photo shows St Marys Primary School in Chorley where a worker fell through the roof

A roofing firm has been fined for safety failings after a worker sustained severe injuries when he fell through a primary school roof in Chorley.

The 51-year-old from Kirkby, who has asked not to be named, suffered fractures to his spine, breastbone and ribs in the incident at St Marys Primary Sc…

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Faulty rope led to amputation for outdoors instructor

Photo shows the site at Carroty Wood where outdoor instructor Josh Senior fell

A Southampton firm has been prosecuted after an outdoors activity instructor was left permanently disabled when he used a defective rope for a simulated parachute landing.

Joshua Senior, 25, plunged some nine metres to the ground at the Rock (UK) adventure centre in Carroty Wood, near Tonbridge, …

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Scaffolding firm sentenced over worker's death

Photo shows skylight Tony Causby fell 13 metres through

A scaffolding firm has been ordered to pay more than £100,000 in fines and costs following the death of an employee who plunged 13 metres through the roof of a Skelmersdale warehouse.

Married father-of-one Tony Causby, 42, from Leigh, was helping to dismantle scaffolding when he stepped onto a f…

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Council prosecuted after worker's near-death fall

Photo shows the overturned cherry picker

Bradford Council has admitted serious safety breaches after one of its parks' employees narrowly escaped death when he plunged eleven metres from the cradle of a cherry picker.

Bradford Magistrates heard the 23-year-old arboricultural worker from Bingley was working at a height of some 35 feet pr…

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Worker's six metre fall lands two Kent businesses in court

Photo shows the warehouse where a worker fell to his death

A Kent father and grandfather died after plunging six metres through a fragile skylight because safety measures were neglected both by his employer and a major drinks wholesaler, a court has heard.

Robert Rogers, 61, was working for Richard Parker, trading as Ovenden Engineering, which had been c…

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High school fined after pupil's climbing wall injury

Photo shows the climbing wall at Manningtree High School where a child was injured

An Essex high school has been fined for safety failings after a 14-year-old boy fell more than four metres from a climbing wall.

The teenager was one of four pupils selected to try their first-ever 'lead climb', a more advanced, mainly rock-climbing technique, during a PE lesson at Manningtree Hi…

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Wigan worker injured in fall through sports hall roof

Photo shows the corrugated panels Lee Byrne fell through on the roof of Loreto High School in Chorlton

A Wigan roofing firm has been fined after an employee was severely injured when he fell ten metres through the roof of a school sports hall.

Lee Byrne, 29 from Ince, was working on a project to replace the raised roof on the sports hall at Loreto High School in Chorlton with a flat roof when the …

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Rugby firm fined for London skylight fall

Photo shows the skylight at a north London warehouse

A Midlands firm specialising in the installation of solar panels has been fined for safety failings after a worker sustained life-threatening injuries when he fell through a fragile skylight at a north London warehouse.

Brian Dolan, 58, from Warwick, fractured his skull in two places, broke five …

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Four metre fall lands company in court

Photo shows badly-protected skylight where a roofing worker plunged four metres through a roof opening

A construction company based in South East London has been prosecuted for a serious safety breach after a roofing worker plunged four metres through a badly-protected skylight.

The 45 year-old worker, Paul Shaw, of Maidstone, suffered multiple fracture injuries, including a broken right arm, when…

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Worker fell through pig shed roof after firm ignored safety warnings

Photo shows the fragile part of the pig shed roof that collapsed

A York firm that fits solar panels has been prosecuted after an employee fell four metres through the fragile roof of a pig shed at an East Yorkshire farm.

The worker had been employed for just two weeks by Solar Fit PV Ltd. and had no experience in solar panel installation. He was on all fours c…

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Worker's tree fall lands farmer in court

The worker dropped onto a barn below before rolling off the roof and ending up on some of the felled branches on the ground

An east Hampshire farm owner has been prosecuted after an untrained worker plunged over four metres from a tree as he was using a chainsaw to prune branches.

The worker climbed up into a large sycamore tree and used a rope supplied by farm owner Hamish Janson to tie the chainsaw to a branch. He s…

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Surrey firm fined for worker fall

The rooflight opening through which the worker fell - subsequently boarded to prevent further falls

A Surrey carpentry firm has been fined for safety failings after a worker fractured his skull when he fell through a roof light at a construction site in Cobham.

The 21-year-old, who does not wish to be named, also suffered soft tissue damage to his right hamstring in the fall on 7 June 2012 at a…

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Hull firms in court for worker's death in roof fall

The shattered rooflight where Mr Jackson fellTwo Hull firms and a company director have been sentenced for joint safety failings relating to the death of a worker who plummeted more than eight metres through a fragile rooflight while cleaning gutters.

Kevin Jackson, a father of five, suffered multiple injuries including several fractures of h…

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20 Blog Posts