A site manager and the bread production company that he works for have admitted that they failed to provide a safe work environment after a handyman fell off a stepladder at the premises. He sustained head injuries that proved fatal.
The Magistrates’ Court of the City of London were told that the incident happened at Ovenpride Wholesale Ltd’s bakery in Finchley Road, London on the 22nd April 2009. Amjad Mahmood, the site manager, had instructed Rocco Carofalo to build shelving in a storeroom.
Mr Carofalo was assigned to work in the storeroom on his own. Nearby staff heard a loud bang and rushed into the room, finding Carofalo lying on the floor. He was bleeding from a severe head wound and the stepladder was lying next to him. Carofalo was taken to hospital but died several weeks later as a result of his injuries.
When two inspectors from HSE visited the bakery the day after the incident, they found that the ladder was in a poor condition. The stiles on the ladder were bent and damaged. The investigation also revealed that no risk assessments had been carried out for any of the work done at the site. As a result, the inspectors issued a Prohibition Notice so that no work would be performed on the site until the safety issues had been dealt with, and the proper equipment had been provided for workers.
Amjad Mahmood was named because he was the manager responsible for safety on site. He had given Mr. Carofalo his instructions that day. Inspector Linfoot stated: “The consequences of this tragic incident will be felt by Mr Carofalo’s family for ever, but it was so easily preventable. As the risk of a fall was foreseeable, Ovenpride and its manager should have carried out a full site-specific risk assessment, and planned and organised the work to be carried out in a safe manner…where access to heights is required, even for relatively short-term work, [employers] are ultimately responsible for assessing and planning the work and ensuring that it is carried out in a safe manner using suitable access equipment.”
The company, Ovenpride Wholesale, appeared in court on the 24th August and entered a guilty plea to the charge of breaching s2(1) of the HSWA and was fined just £1 (due to the firm being in liquidation). Amjad Mahmood also attended the hearing on that day. He pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974 and was fined £300. Mahmood was also ordered to pay £200 in costs.
Mahmood stated that he had told staff that the ladder was not safe for use and that any work at height should be done by using a pump truck, which was on site. He told the court that the company had failed to provide him with proper support, or training. Mahmood entered an early guilty plea and he expressed his regret for the role he played in the incident.
