Contractors can easily fall into health and safety issues
A builder, self-employed, is fined 75,000 pounds. He has also been tasked with community service. He carried out work on a home for an elderly couple. The couple died due to carbon monoxide poisoning.
He was hired to carry out work on a garage roof in 2009. He was supposed to raise the garage roof, however he did not account for the gas appliances on the property and what the changes would affect. This workstation risk assessment failure led to the death of the couple. The flue was enclosed and this caused the carbon monoxide to enter the house. The couple was in their 70s.
The builder also had to pay over 25,000 pounds in court costs. The community service will last for 150 hours. It is meant to be carried out in a 12 year period. The HSE conducted health and safety audits on the home to find out what happened to the elderly couple. It is possible to avoid issues such as this with proper training. It is also important that anyone contracted to do work has the knowledge required to complete the work appropriately.
Taking on work is important for one’s income, but at the same time huge fines and loss of home-owner life is something that can be hard to live with. For those who take the time to examine the risk assessments, formulate a plan, and hire qualified workers when your training is not enough, such a thing as safety breaches will not happen.
