A Sheffield construction firm has been fined £15,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,228 after a worker was seriously injured while refurbishing a Teesside store.
MacDonald Joinery & Construction Ltd, of Westthorpe Fields Business Park, Westthorpe Fields Road, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at the former Rosebys store, at Teesside Retail Park, Stockton, on 2 September 2008.
The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 at Teesside Magistrates’ Court after it emerged that Carl Major, 31, of Retford, Nottinghamshire, had been stripping out fixtures and fittings when he was hit on the head by a falling lighting pelmet.
He suffered serious head injuries and was in a coma for two months after being knocked off the step ladder and falling three metres onto a concrete floor. He has since developed epilepsy and still requires medical treatment.
The HSE investigation revealed that MacDonald Joinery & Construction had failed to provide Mr Major with the necessary information and instruction to enable him to carry out his work safely.
It also discovered that although the company had produced a risk assessment and a system of work for working at height in the store, neither were sufficient as they failed to look at how the lighting pelmet and the wall to which it was attached were constructed. As a result of this the company failed to identify the dangers its workers would face.
Medico-Legal News Source: Claims Magazine
