A company and an individual have been fined after a worker suffered life changing injuries while dismantling an external platform lift.
Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court heard how, on 31 August 2017, a worker was injured whist working on an external lift shaft at Alton College. A heavy component of the lift toppled to the ground and he fell with it, suffering serious life changing injuries that resulted in him being paralysed and confined to a wheelchair.
The HSE’s investigation found that the work was sub-contracted. The companies failed to ensure dismantling of an external platform lift was undertaken without risks of persons falling or structural collapse.
The company have pleaded guilty to breaching a single charge of section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and have been fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £9,104.50.
The director pleaded guilty to two charges of Regulations 20(1) and 20(2) of Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 2015 and was fined £480 and ordered to pay costs of £1,000.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Dominic Goacher said: “Neither party adequately planned the work and failed to identify suitable control measures such as scaffold to prevent falls.
If a suitable safe system of work had been in place prior to the incident, the life changing injuries sustained by the employee could have been prevented.”
Source – SHP
