Futon Manufacturer Fined after Health and Safety Audit
A futon manufacturer in Tottenham was prosecuted for a worker fall. The employee fell through the roof light when conducting maintenance work on the property. It was due to a poorly managed situation. This is why the company will now have to pay a fine for the injuries inflicted on the employee in 2009 during the fall.
The injuries were of the spinal column and a collapsed lung. The employee did survive the fall, but it meant the worker had to take time off work and is still suffering from his injuries given the fractured spinal column.
The employee was on the factory roof trying to get leaves out of the roof valley. He was using a cage mounted on a forklift truck. It was a man-riding cage for the repairs, but he stepped on a plastic light on the roof that let go and caused him to fall. It was due to hitting the roof light on his way down too that caused the serious injuries. The fall was 6.5 metres.
The HSE investigated the incident with health and safety audits. They found that proper health and safety training was part of the problem because the platform being used was not integrated with the forklift, as the proper equipment would have been. The company must pay £6,000 in a fine and £14,600 in other costs. The incident could have been avoided if proper work assessments and equipment had been on hand.
