A Shetland building contractor has been fined £9,000 for serious health and safety failings that left a worker with severe injuries.
Whiteness-based G&A Leask pleaded guilty to a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 at Lerwick Sheriff Court today.
Company employee Thomas Marshall, then aged 22, fell more than four metres from an unprotected roof on the afternoon of 30 October 2018.
He suffered severe traumatic brain injury along with vertebrae fractures and a broken collarbone.
The court heard how Marshall and a co-worker were sent to repair roof tiles on a sloped roof of a property in Seafield, Lerwick.
A passer-by heard a shout
The sloped roof of the house was just over four metres high and the ground below was a narrow passageway between the gable end and the perimeter wall.
At about 4.15pm, Marshall’s co-worker went to collect more tiles while he continued to replace damaged slates.
Ten minutes later, a passer-by heard a shout and saw Marshall falling sideways off the unprotected edge of the roof.
Paramedics were at the scene shortly afterwards and, suspecting brain damage, they stabilised him before taking him to the Gilbert Bain Hospital.
Marshall spent two weeks in intensive care.
It took about six months before he was able to return to work and still suffers long-term effects from his injuries.
He recently settled a civil action in relation to the incident.
Company failed in their duty
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found the company had well-trained and well-equipped employees but in this instance, the company had failed in their duty to clarify to their employees that using scaffolding was a direction rather than a suggestion.
HSE stated that work on sloping roofs is not low-risk work and the risk of falling from an unprotected roof edge is such that a scaffold or other roof edge protection would be a reasonably practicable precaution in the circumstances.
Since this incident, the company has stated that work is now more closely supervised, and it has altered job sheets to include specific risks and instructions which employees must acknowledge as being understood.
Speaking on behalf of the company in court, solicitor Mark Donaldson said G &A Leask accepted full responsibility and added that nothing submitted in mitigation should be interpreted as criticism of any employee.
Donaldson said the company, employing eight staff, was highly regarded and had an otherwise excellent HSE record going back 25 years.
It was a matter of great shock to the company directors that such an accident had been allowed to happen, and of great regret that Mr Marshall was injured, the solicitor said.
Sheriff Ian Cruickshank said he accepted that employees were generally well-equipped for the jobs they were required to carry out.
And he also acknowledged that immediate changes to the company’s work practices were made following the accident.
The sheriff fined the company £9,000 and ordered it to pay within 28 days.
‘This incident could easily have proved fatal’
Speaking after the sentencing, Debbie Carroll, who leads health and safety investigations for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, said: “It is well known that falls from height are one of the single greatest causes of death and serious injury to workers within the construction industry.
“This accident could have been avoided if G&A Leask Limited had put in place the appropriate planning, supervision and protective measures.
“This incident could easily have proved fatal and has irrevocably changed Thomas Marshall’s life.
“Hopefully this prosecution will remind other employers that failure to fulfil their obligations can have severe and potentially tragic consequences and that they will be held to account for their failings.”
