– HSE
A haulage specialist has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to provide fall protection for workers replacing the roof of its premises.
On 29 May 2019, HSE inspectors visited a warehouse in Blackburn and observed two workers on the roof without any physical protection or any work equipment in place to prevent or minimise the distance of a fall.
Blackpool Magistrates’ Court was told that the roof of the warehouse was fragile and the employees were at risk of coming through it. Investigators revealed the company, Speed Drop Logistics, did not have any measures in place to prevent workers falling from or through the roof from which they could suffer personal injury or even death.
The removal of tiles should have been carried out from underneath the roof using a scissor lift or a cherry picker, the HSE said, and scaffold should have been in place to create a barrier against and to minimise the distance of a possible fall.
Speed Drop Logistics admitted breaching regulation 6(3) of the Work at Height Regulations, and was fined £80,000 plus costs of £1570.60.