Firms fined over brain damaged man
24/03/2010
Two Yorkshire companies have been fined £2,000 each over an accident at a student accommodation refurbishment which left a worker with brain damaged.
Self-employed Trevor Dawson from Ravensthorpe, West Yorkshire, was working as a painter at Ashenhurst Student Village in Newsom.
Huddersfield Magistrates' Court heard Mr Dawson, 58, was injured when he apparently fell from a ladder on 15 August 2007. No witnesses could confirm this.
Liversedge Decorating Contractors Ltd, two of its directors, and a second company Foster Turn-Key Contracts Ltd were found guilty of health and safety breaches by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Foster Turn-Key Contracts Ltd was the principal contractor, while Liversedge Decorating Contractors Ltd had been employed to decorate the flats.
The HSE launched an investigation into the incident and found the firms had failed to adequately plan and supervise workers. It also said they had used inappropriate equipment.
Liversedge Decorating Contractors Ltd of Mountain Road, Thornhill, Dewsbury, pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 4 (1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, and were fined £2,000.
Paul Daniel of Smithy Carr Lane, Brighouse, and Clive Dewhirst of Mountain Road, Thornhill, Dewsbury, both directors of the firm, also pleaded guilty to the same charge. They were fined £1,000 each.
Foster Turn-Key Contractors of Plover Road, Lindley, Huddersfield, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 22 (1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. They were fined £2,000.
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