Roof plunge costs Mansfield business
Mansfield mechanical engineering company Mechanical Solutions Ltd has been fined £10,000 plus costs after an employee fell through a roof.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said subcontractor Michael Hawkins, 23, suffered "serious back injuries" after failling six metres through a roof at an industrial building at Cotes Park Lane, Somercotes, Derbyshire.
The HSE said the roofer underwent six operations in six months including a skin graft to his back and has been unable to return to work since the 16 June 2009 incident. He had been subcontracted by Mechanical Solutions Ltd, of Mansfield, which had been employed by the building's owners to help cover the asbestos cement roof with steel cladding and it was his first day on site, the HSE added.
Derby Magistrates' Court was told by the HSE that Mechanical Solutions Ltd had failed to ensure work was properly planned, appropriately supervised or carried out in a safe manner.
Mechanical Solutions Ltd, of Acorn Business Park, Commercial Gate, Mansfield, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £5,366.
Hawkins said: "I hope others can learn from what has happened. I would not want anyone else to go through what I’ve been through."
