Building firm prosecuted for health and safety related death
A director is being prosecuted due to a worker death. The director works for a building firm and is considered responsible for the incident of a self-employed contractor who died falling from a roof on a project in Penryn. Paul Gibbons was 59 at the time of his death when he was re-roofing Acryflor Industrial Estate in 2008. Gibbons fell through the roof eight metres to the floor below. He was working on a roof that had asbestos cement. He was still alive when taken to the hospital, but suffered extensive injuries and died later that day.
The HSE conducted health and safety audits to determine what may have caused the incident. The director of the building firm Onyx Europe did not provide adequate safety measures for the site when working at heights. The court heard that the work was not properly planned, nor were there any safety nets or crash platforms to protect against a fall. It was, according to the statements made, a clear health and safety breach on the part of the Onyx Europe Company.
Mr. Gibbons might be alive had the work been planned properly and up to the industry standards required. Acryflor had a duty of care to ensure the worker was safe with reasonable practises for working at heights. The company should have hired a person with the knowledge and experience to work on the roof and for risk assessment. The company has been fined £2,500 and an additional £2,500 in costs.
