Asbestos removal company NJS (Scotland) has been fined after a worker fell off a garage roof and fractured a vertebrae bone in his back.
Aberdeen Sheriff Court heard that, on 15 August 2017, whilst replacing a garage roof at a domestic property in lnverurie, employee David Ross fell approximately two metres through the roof whilst removing bolts, resulting in a back injury.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that NJS (Scotland) failed to provide a suitable work platform to prevent employees falling from or through the roof of the garage.
The company should have anticipated and solved the challenges presented by a double skinned roof given its extensive experience of working at height and the vast safety equipment available.
The HSE inspector considered that NJS (Scotland) was complacent in its approach to this much smaller scale domestic job. There would normally be a pre job toolbox talk and all operatives would be required to sign that they had received and understood the plan of work before the job began, but that did not happen on this occasion.
The company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £8,000.
Speaking after the hearing, Elizabeth Hunter, an HSE inspector, said: “Falls from height remains one of the most common causes of work-related fatalities in this country, and the risks associated with working at height are well known.”
, an asbestos removal company, has been fined £8,000 after one of its workers fell off a garage roof, injuring his back.){kind=link}