HSE inspector Sarah Smewin tells IOSH magazine how a fatal fall from height led to both the employing company and its operations manager being prosecuted.
On 29 June 2018, the emplyoee was removing a redundant steel cleaning machine from the company’s site in the West Midlands. But during the work, he stepped onto a fragile roof and fell more than 20 feet to the floor below. He suffered serious injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The incident
‘There was a project going on at the site in Dudley to remove a redundant steel cleaning machine. It was a very tall piece of machinery that was housed in a corrugated steel tower on the side of the main production floor,’ explained Sarah. ‘In order to remove the machine, the corrugated steel tower needed to be partially dismantled. He and another employee were tasked with doing this, which involved working at height, about seven metres up. He and his colleague climbed up the inside of the tower and when they got to the top, they used angle grinders to remove the bolts that were holding the steel sheeting in place. It was while they were doing that that he stepped back onto a fragile roof. His weight took him through and he fell seven metres to the production floor below, suffering fatal injuries.”
The investigation
‘In these types of incidents, the initial call will go to the emergency services and then it’s usually the police that will contact us when they know that it is a work-related incident. We will get somebody out there as soon as possible,’ said Sarah. ‘All such fatal investigations are carried out in accordance with the work-related death protocol. Bodies such as the HSE, the police and a number of other organisations are signatories to the protocol. The protocol outlines how we all work together in order for the investigation to be carried out properly and in good time.
‘Usually the police will have primacy and HSE will support and work closely with them. Then the police will take the decision whether there is anything for them to investigate further. If there is nothing further for the police to investigate, primacy is handed over to HSE. Because we have been involved from the beginning, it means we don’t have to start from scratch with the investigation. ‘In this case, the police carried out their investigation and then handed primacy over to us.’
The findings
‘Our investigation found that the activity that was carried out on the day in question – removing the corrugated sheet tower – wasn’t properly risk assessed,” Sarah said. ‘In court, the judge highlighted that the failings, in particular the lack of a suitable and sufficient risk assessment, had led to unsafe working practices being followed. The work simply wasn’t carried out safely; it wasn’t carried out with suitable work at height equipment to prevent a person falling.’
The prosecution
The company was found guilty by a jury of breaching of section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. Last month, at Wolverhampton Magistrates’ Court, it was fined £90,000 and ordered to pay costs of £28,956. The company is currently in liquidation.
In addition to the prosecution of the company, the HSE also took the decision to prosecute the operations manager who led the project to remove the steel cleaning machine. ‘In terms of the decision to prosecute him as well as the company, there are two parts to our decision making,’ Sarah said. ‘The first part is the evidential aspect: do we have enough evidence to bring those charges and secure a guilty verdict beyond all reasonable doubt? The second part of our decision is whether a prosecution is in the public interest. ‘When we carry out investigations, we keep an open mind as to the culpability of not only the company but any individuals who may or may not have been involved. In this case, we felt the evidence was there to prosecute the manager and it was in the public interest.’
Source – IOSH
