
![]() |
Mark Sennett
Managing Editor |
![]() |
Kelly Rose
Editor |
Home> | Slips, Trips & Falls | >Fall Prevention | >Fall from ladder lands six figure fine |
Home> | Slips, Trips & Falls | >Fall Protection | >Fall from ladder lands six figure fine |
Fall from ladder lands six figure fine
30 September 2019
VERTELLUS SPECIALTIES UK Limited has been fined after an employee fell two metres from a ladder and suffered a serious elbow injury.
Carlisle Magistrates’ Court heard that on 6 June 2018, at the company’s site in Northside, Workington, an employee was using a ladder to inspect a steam leak at height when the ladder failed and the employee fell to the ground.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the company had failed to ensure that work at height was properly planned and managed. The company also failed to ensure that equipment provided for use at height was inspected at regular intervals and was fit for use.
Vertellus Specialties UK Limited of St Ann’s Wharf, Newcastle-upon-Tyne pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The company was fined £120,000 with £5155.80 in costs.
After the hearing, HSE inspector Carol Forster said: “Work at height accidents are one of the main causes of occupational injury and death. Employers should consider if working at height can be avoided and, if work at height is undertaken, it should be properly planned and managed appropriately and all equipment should be fit for purpose.”
- £140,000 fine for preventable fall from height
- Unmanaged asbestos lands fine for recycler
- Fine after residents exposed to carbon monoxide
- Diving instructor sentenced after student dies
- Calling time on human trafficking
- Council fined £330,000 after child's fatal injuries
- Southampton hospital security staff to strike
- Fine after care home resident chokes and dies
- OECD report highlights training needs
- NEBOSH invests £80k to support miners