School Governors Fined After Fall From Height

Working at height remains one of the biggest causes of fatalities and major injuries in the workplace. Common cases include falls from ladders and through fragile surfaces. ‘Work at height’ means work in any place where, if there were no precautions in place, a person could fall a distance liable to cause personal injury (for example a fall through a fragile roof).

The governing body of a secondary school and sixth form college in Southport has been fined after an employee fell from height whilst performing routine maintenance duties.

An assistant site manager was removing footballs from the sixth form centre roof when he lost his footing, falling more than three metres to the ground, Liverpool Magistrates’ Court was told. He sustained multiple fractures. The incident happened on 4 October 2018.

The HSE’s investigation found that, despite it being a regular practice to go on to the roof to remove balls, the governing body had no protective measures in place to prevent a fall from the edges of the roof. No barriers, any type of edge protection or fall restraint system was in place.

The governing body pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. They were fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,851.50.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Roger Clarke said: “Falls from height remain one of the most common causes of work-related fatalities in this country and the risks associated with working at height are well known…. Companies should be aware that HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate enforcement action against those that fall below the required standard.”