A construction company in Northumberland has been fined after a joiner fell approximately four metres suffering injury.
Northumberland Magistrates’ Court heard how a joiner was working
under the control of the principal contractor, Oakland Homes (North
East) Limited on a new property development at Whalton, Northumberland.
The court heard scaffolding on site had been altered by workers not
trained to do so, leaving it without adequate edge protection to prevent
a person falling a distance liable to cause personal injury.
The joiner was undertaking an unplanned activity to fit a weather
vane to a roof when he fell backwards from the scaffold to the uneven
ground below, suffering a fractured vertebra and a large cut to the back
of his head.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the
incident which occurred on 4 August 2015 found that Oakland Homes (North
East) Limited failed to plan, manage and monitor the installation of
the weather vane.
Oakland Homes (North East) Limited of Hillside West, Rothbury,
Northumberland pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 13(1) the
Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, and was fined
£50,000 and ordered to pay costs of £800.