08/12/2015
A St Albans Magistrate’s Court has fined a construction site manager £1,000 and ordered him to pay £3,130 in costs for breaching section 7(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act.
Section 7(a) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act states:
7. General duties of employees at work
It shall be the duty of every employee while at work—
(a) to take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and of other persons who may be affected by his acts or omissions at work;
The Incident
During construction of a house build site in Hertfordshire, the site manager in question used an excavator to raise a colleague up to cut a protruding piece of steel at height.
The court was told the site manager subsequently left the operator’s cabin of the excavator, leaving the machine unattended whilst the worker continued to use a handheld grinder at height. Whilst the excavator’s cabin was vacant, the bucket suddenly jolted downwards throwing the site worker off balance. He managed to throw the grinder clear and grabbed onto the adjacent wall to stop his fall.
To get down safely, another colleague had to provide him with a ladder. The worker suffered a number of strain injuries, in particular to his right shoulder, due to the negligence of the site manager.
Fisher Scoggins Waters are a London based law firm who are experts in construction, manufacturing and engineering matters. If you have recently had a health and safety incident occur in your workplace or require other legal advice please phone us on 0207 993 6960.