A bread company and a site manager have admitted failing to provide a safe method of work after a handyman fell from a stepladder and sustained fatal head injuries.
City of London Magistrates’ court heard that the incident took place at Ovenpride Wholesale Ltd’s bakery in Finchley Road, London on 22 April 2009. The site manager, Amjad Mahmood, had instructed Rocco Carofalo to build shelving in a storeroom.
Mr Carofalo was working alone in the storeroom when his colleagues heard a loud bang. They rushed into the room, and found him lying on the floor, bleeding from a severe head wound, with the stepladder next to him. He was taken to hospital but died several weeks later from his injuries.
Two HSE inspectors visited the bakery the day after the incident and found that the ladder was in a poor condition, as its stiles were bent and damaged. Their investigation also found that no risk assessments had been carried out for any work at the site. They issued a Prohibition Notice, requiring no further work at height to be undertaken at the site until a safe system of work had been created, and suitable equipment had been provided.
HSE inspector said that Amjad Mahmood was prosecuted because he was responsible for safety at the site and had directly instructed Mr Carofalo. Inspector Linfoot said: “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.”
Ovenpride Wholesale appeared in court on 24 August and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA and was fined £1. Amjad Mahmood attended the same hearing and also pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974. He was fined £300 and ordered to pay £200 in costs.
In mitigation, the company, which is now in liquidation, said Mahmood 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. Mahmood told the court that the company had not given him proper support, or training. He entered an early guilty plea and expressed regret for his part in the incident.
