Building repair company fined for unsafe work at height

A building repair company has been fined for safety failings after workers were seen operating unsafely at height at a Warwick industrial estate.
 
Bedford-based CJ Coatings Ltd had been employed to grind down and paint roof sheet edges on a commercial building in Hiron Way on the Budbrooke Industrial Estate.
 
Warwickshire Magistrates' Court was told today (21 March) that the health and safety manager of an adjacent building alerted the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to raise concerns about the way the work was being carried out.
 
HSE inspectors visited the site on 7 September 2011 and immediately served a Prohibition Notice halting all work until urgent remedial action was taken.
 
A subsequent investigation identified that the roof contained 24 potentially-fragile roof lights which had not been identified as safe to work on. No protection had been provided to stop workers falling through them, and no netting or similar measures had been placed underneath.
 
HSE also found that edge protection on scaffolding surrounding the building was inadequate and there was no lower guard rail or toe-boards, creating a gap that was wide enough for someone to fall through.
 
Magistrates heard that in the days before inspectors arrived on site workers had been operating underneath the guard rails at the far edge of the pitched roof of the industrial unit, alongside a drop of more than six metres. Material and equipment had been seen falling or being thrown from the roof.
 
CJ Coatings Ltd, of Mill Street, Bedford, was fined £4,000 and ordered to pay £3,500 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
 
Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector Paul Thompson said:
 
"The unsafe work HSE inspectors witnessed when they visited the site was not an isolated incident; it had been going on for several days.
 
"CJ Coatings failed to properly plan and supervise the work, allowing a whole catalogue of errors to occur, and in doing so put lives at risk.
 
"Work at height is a high risk activity. There is a need to adequately plan for such work and ensure those plans are fully implemented and monitored effectively to ensure the safety of those involved."
Fall Protection