Health and Safety Fines after Employee Falls from Roof
A man has been fined £6,500 after an employee fell from a roof and suffered serious injuries. The 24-year-old employee, Daniel Elliot, was assisting Anthony William John Daniel with construction duties when he plummeted 5.5 metres to the ground below.
Mr Elliot broke several bones in his spine and fractured his pelvis following the incident at Plasbach Farm near Llandeilo during April 2010. Mr Daniel, who trades as Towy Valley Fabrications, had employed the victim who was an inexperienced steel erector.
“Anthony Daniel undertook the erection of a steel framed agricultural building with little understanding of the need for the safety measures that routinely apply to such construction work. He employed an inexperienced worker and exposed him over the course of several days, to risks of a fall from height ultimately resulting in the fall of 5.5m which caused serious injury. Mr Daniel then failed to notify HSE of the incident,” Health Investigation Inspector Phil Nicolle revealed.
Mr Eliot’s mother eventually notified HSE of the incident and an investigation found that Mr Daniel had failed to provide appropriate planning and supervision for the work at height activities. He had also failed to ensure any potential health and safety risks were controlled.
Mr Daniel of The Brambles, Llanwrda, and Carmarthenshire was subsequently fined a six-figure sum and told to pay costs of £2,651 after entering a guilty plea to breaches of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work etc. Act and the 1995 Reporting of Injuries, Diseases, and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations.
