Oxfordshire Construction Firm Fined After Worker Dies in Fall
An Oxfordshire-based construction company has been fined £120,000 after a carpenter fell through an unsafe floor and subsequently died from his injuries. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that the work had not been properly planned or supervised, and that the company had not taken sufficient measures to protect workers from falls.
The incident occurred in August 2022 at a property in Gloucestershire that was undergoing extensive refurbishment. Richard 'Felix' Roper, a father of two, was replacing damaged floor joists while other workers removed floorboards nearby. Large sections of the house's first floor had been stripped back, and Mr Roper fell through the unsafe floor onto the concrete ground floor below. He sustained severe head injuries and died in hospital the next day.
According to the HSE's report on this incident, the construction company (W. G. Carter Limited of Appleton, Oxfordshire) had failed to adequately plan the work or implement suitable fall protection measures. Last month, the firm pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £120,000 plus £5,247 in costs.
Working at height doesn't always mean working near an edge.
Among other things, this incident serves as a reminder that falls from height don't necessarily involve falling over the edge of a roof or elevated platform. Workers can also fall through unsafe surfaces like fragile skylights and weakened floors.
The HSE's Introduction to working at height safely defines 'work at height' as:
"work in any place where, if there were no precautions in place, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury (for example a fall through a fragile roof)"
Employers and workers must therefore consider the condition and structural integrity of the surface they're working on, not just its distance from a visible edge or opening.
Before commencing work at height, proper planning is a must.
A joint investigation by the HSE and Gloucestershire Police found that Mr Roper and his colleagues had been allowed to access unsafe areas of the first floor while other workers continued to remove floorboards.
Following Mr Roper's fatal fall, W. G. Carter Ltd adopted a safer approach: installing floor joists from below using appropriate equipment, and preventing access to the first floor while work was underway. Had the job been properly risk-assessed and planned beforehand, this system could have been used from the get-go and disaster might have been averted.
REMEMBER! WORK AT HEIGHT SHOULD BE...
- Avoided altogether if there's a feasible way to get the job done without putting anyone at risk of falling.
- Properly planned so that appropriate safety precautions can be put in place before the work actually commences.
- Carried out by competent people with appropriate supervision.
