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A GLAZING firm from Yorkshire has been fined more than £5,000 after an employee broke his wrist while working on a York house.
Philip Pears fell about ten feet from a scaffolding tower outside a house in York in June 2009, while working for Premier Security Glazing Ltd, based in Sheffield.
York Magistrates’ Court heard two tower scaffolds had been erected ten feet apart, with wooden boards creating a makeshift platform between them.
Mr Pears, then 20, climbed a ladder on to the platform which slipped, and he fell three-and-a-half metres, breaking his wrist and bruising his back on the pavement below.
Sarah Lee, from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said: “The dangers of working from poorly-erected tower scaffolds are well known and are responsible for many injuries each year.
“Had the company followed widely-available guidance from HSE, the manufacturer’s instructions, or the findings of the company’s own safety audit then this incident could have been easily prevented.”
The court heard the company had employed a risk adviser some months before the incident, and received a health and safety audit on its systems of work, including recommendations for safe working at height and the correct use of tower scaffolds, but had not implemented these recommendations.
The firm, of Marriot Road, Swinton, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 by failing to ensure the safety of their employees and was fined £2,500 with £2,644.90 costs.
Via: www.yorkpress.co.uk
