£40,000 fined after skylight fall
23/06/2010
An accident which left a worker seriously injured after falling through a skylight has cost one Gloucestershire company and one local man a total of nearly £40,000 in fines.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Woodgate Sawmills and Stanley Stephens, of firm Longhope Welding, following the accident involving Robert Stephens. Mr Stephens fell through a skylight and sustained serious head injuries while working on the roof of a sawmill building at Mile End, Coleford, Gloucestershire.
Mr Stephens, 40, fell 5m and landed on concrete while working with his father Stanley and other Longhope employees at the Woodgate Sawmill building.
Woodgate Sawmills of Lydney, Gloucestershire, was fined a total of £13,320 and ordered to pay costs of £14,443 after pleading guilty to four breaches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 and 2007 before Gloucester Magistrates. Stanley Stephens, of Longhope, Gloucestershire, was fined a total of £26,660 and ordered to pay costs of £14,443 after pleading guilty to breaching section 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector, Annette Walker, said: "This incident highlights the extremely serious risks posed by working at height if adequate safety protection measures are not in place."
Copyright © Press Association 2010