Animal Feed Producer Fined for Health and Safety Incident
An employee at an animal feed company fell five metres due to an issue with the warehouse roof. The maintenance contractor and producer have been fined for the incident. The employee was a woman, 27 at the time of the incident, who fell when she tripped over a roof light. The employee was repairing a gutter at the time. Due to the incident, she fractured several vertebrae, suffered from bruises, and was off work for two months.
The HSE conducted health and safety audits to determine the cause of the fall and whether there was any breach in regulations. It was determined that the employer of the woman did not offer proper health and safety training. The feed producer obtained two quotes from companies regarding the roof repair. The contractor hired had never done work with fragile roofs before. He did not check the area for safety and undercut the other company’s bid by £20,000. Due to a lack of knowledge about fragile roofs, an employee was harmed.
The roof boards did not have guardrails, the workers were not in harnesses, and there was no netting in the event of a fall. All of this, plus inexperience, led to the employee’s injuries and the resulting sentencing of the fine for both companies. One company wanted to cut costs, the other company just did not have the training to handle the work so more than £19,000 in fines and costs will be paid out.
