Brothers sentenced over unsafe work at height

The brothers who are directors of building firm G E White and Sons had workers constructing a steel frame building at a property on Blakeney Avenue, Lewes on 17 March 2015.

An inspector from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told the court he saw roof sheets being fitted at approximately four to five metres from the floor with no safety netting or scaffold, and workers standing on roof sheets.

They were immediately served with a Prohibition Notice preventing them from continuing work until the safety issues were remedied. However when HSE visited the site again six days later the structure was only half netted and one side of the scaffold had been removed.

The court heard back in 2011 exactly the same issue had been identified on another site on the Directors and an Improvement Noticed had been issued to their company, G E White and Sons Ltd to put in place a management system.

Jason and Gary White, both directors of construction firm G E White & Sons, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 for failure to comply with Section 4 1(c) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 at Worthing Magistrates’ Court. They were each fined £6000 and ordered to pay costs of £1362 between them.