Skip to main content
IOSH Magazine: Safety, Health and Wellbeing in the world of work - return to the homepage IOSH Magaazine logo
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit @ioshmagazine on Twitter
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on LinkedIn
Gender equality
Practice meets perfect
May/June 2023 issue

Main navigation

  • Home
    • Browse previous issues
    • Member accolades
    • Member tributes
  • Health
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Sickness absence
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Rehabilitation
      • Personal injury
      • Return to work
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Achieving Fellowship
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Professional skills
      • Qualifications
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Jobs
  • Covid-19
  • Knowledge Bank
    • Back to basics
    • Book club
    • Infographics
    • Podcast
    • Reports
    • Webinars
    • Videos
  • Products & Services
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Sickness absence
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Leadership
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Qualifications
      • Professional skills
      • Achieving Fellowship
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Transport and logistics
  • Third sector
  • Retail
  • Mining and quarrying
  • Rail
  • Rehabilitation
    • Personal injury
    • Return to work
  • Utilities
  • Manufacturing and engineering
  • Construction
  • Sector: IOSH Branch
    • Sector: Northern Ireland
    • Sector: Midland
    • Sector: Merseyside
    • Sector: Manchester and North West Districts
    • Sector: Ireland East
    • Sector: Ireland
    • Sector: Edinburgh
    • Sector: Desmond-South Munster
    • Sector: Qatar
    • Sector: Oman
    • Singapore
    • Sector: South Coast
    • Sector: South Wales
    • Sector: Thames Valley
    • Sector: Tyne and Wear
    • Sector: UAE
    • Sector: West of Scotland
    • Sector: Yorkshire
  • Healthcare
  • Sector: Fire
  • Sector: Financial/general services
  • Sector: Energy
  • Education
  • Sector: Communications and media
  • Chemicals
  • Sector: Central government
  • Catering and leisure
  • Agriculture and forestry
  • Sector: Local government
  • Sector: IOSH Group
    • Sector: Financial Services
    • Sector: Sports Grounds and Events
    • Rural industries
    • Sector: railway
    • Public Services
    • Sector: Offshore
    • Sector: Hazardous Industries
    • Sector: Food and Drink
    • Sector: Fire Risk Management
    • Education
    • Construction
    • Sector: Aviation and Aerospace
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Categories
  • Topics
  • Management
  • Human factors
  • Safe systems of work
Work at height
Retail
News

Wholesaler fined £25k over employee’s unprotected skylight fall

Open-access content Friday 17th August 2018
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

skylight_fall

Birmingham Magistrates' Court was told that the HK Traders' employee had climbed up a scaffold at the company's premises on the St Chads Industrial Estate on Brearley Close and walked onto the building's flat roof without permission.

However, the Birmingham City Council investigation into the incident on 20 January 2017 found there was no scaffolding. The health and safety inspector also found evidence to suggest the employee had been lifted onto the roof by standing on the pallet of a forklift truck.

The employee was on the roof helping a contractor finish sealing a skylight. When he walked across an unprotected skylight, he fell through it to the ground, sustaining cuts.

The health and safety inspector found that HK Traders had failed to ensure work was carried out safely.

HK Traders pleaded guilty to breaching ss 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and must also pay £3,900 costs. The judge ordered the company to pay the employee £1,000 compensation.

You may also be interested in...

©Roger Templeman (cc-by-sa/2.0)

 Fall from dangerous MEWP lands bed firm with £113k fine

Monday 3rd September 2018
The And So To Bed employee was standing on the platform, which was attached to a forklift truck and was open sided, on 1 February 2017 when the accident happened at the company’s factory in Bridport, Dorset. He sustained injuries to his knee and face, Poole Magistrates’ Court was told.The company was fined £113,000 plus £6,924 costs after it pleaded guilty to breaching s 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and reg 3(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations.
Open-access content
A demonstration of where the employee's foot was when the lift fell

 Employee’s foot crushed by stock retrieval system’s 800 kg lift

Wednesday 8th August 2018
Although the team had activated the emergency stop circuit and assumed this would prevent the machine operating as work was carried out, they had not cut power to the control panel.The incident happened on 28 April 2017 when employees from Logistex were refurbishing the ASRS at the Shop Direct distribution centre on Linney Lane, Shaw, Oldham.  The firm’s employee was replacing sensors on the equipment’s lift, which weighed around 800 kg, when it unexpectedly dropped around 1 m, trapping his foot between the lift and the frame of the truck on which he was standing.
Open-access content
© iStock/TonyBaggett

 Tesco’s £160k roll cage fine is eight times pre-guidelines level

Tuesday 7th August 2018
The difference between the two fines reflects the influence of the sentencing guidelines for OSH offences introduced in 2016, which were intended to increase sanctions on larger employers and the removal of a fine ceiling for magistrates.The employee of Tesco Express in Chadwell-St-Mary, Essex, was working alone when the accident happened on 30 September 2015. The worker was using a tail-lift operated by the delivery vehicle driver to unload the roll cages that held the stock.
Open-access content
Image credit: ©kynny

 Golf course manager fatally claimed competence with chainsaw

Friday 3rd August 2018
Douglas Johnstone, 56, sustained a fatal brain injury while he was working at the Hinckley Golf Club in December 2013. Leicester Crown Court was told that Johnstone was believed to have been using a chainsaw to clear a heavy branch that had broken off a poplar tree during a storm and was lying in an unstable position across several smaller trees. He died alone at the scene and his body was found by a colleague the morning after the accident, on 28 December.
Open-access content
A body camera picture of the canopy

 Teen chef had no training before deep fat fryer fall

Thursday 6th September 2018
The 3 A Pub Company, trading as The Cross, pleaded guilty to breaching s 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act and has been fined £25,200 plus £5,900 costs. Environmental health officers from Warwick District Council found that the 18 year old had not received any safety training, information or instruction, despite having worked as an apprentice chef at the restaurant for more than a year. He had not been provided with the findings of risk assessments relating to work at height, use of fryers and contact with heat sources.
Open-access content
©AlexLMX

 Director jailed after unplanned building collapse during demolition

Tuesday 24th July 2018
Manchester Crown Court was told that Riaz Ahmad had hired a group of workers, who had no experience in construction, to demolish a property in Oldham. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector visited the site on 11 August 2017 after it received a phone call from Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council’s building control department. The inspector found almost all the internal walls and roof supports had been removed and served a prohibition notice on Ahmad preventing any further work and closed a major road that ran past the building.
Open-access content
Topics
Safe systems of work
Work at height
Retail
News
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Health and Safety Improvement Manager

Leeds
£35000 - £50000 per annum
Reference
5452992

SHEQ Systems Advisor

Up to £40000.00 per annum + Car Allowance
Reference
5452988

Senior Health and Safety Manager

Reading
Up to £65000.00 per annum + Great Car Allowance & Benefits
Reference
5452983
See all jobs »

Sign up for regular e-alerts

Receive the latest news and features, free to your inbox

Sign up

Subscribe to IOSH magazine

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
IOSH Covers
​
FOLLOW US
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel +44 (0)20 7880 6200
​

IOSH

About IOSH
Become a member
IOSH Events
MyIOSH

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to IOSH magazine
Write for IOSH magazine

IOSH Magazine

Health
Safety
Management
Skills
IOSH Jobs

© 2023 IOSH • IOSH is not responsible for the content of external sites

ioshmagazine.com and IOSH Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ