The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a company after a worker was left brain damaged in a fall from a ladder.

In August 2007, self-employed painter Trevor Dawson from Ravensthorpe in West Yorkshire, was working on a refurbishment of student accommodation at Ashenhurst Student Village in Newsom. Mr Dawson allegedly fell from a ladder, although there were no witnesses to the accident.

The HSE investigation that followed discovered that principal contractor Foster Turn-Key Contracts Ltd and Liversedge Decorating Contractors Ltd – contracted to decorate the flats had allowed work to be carried out that was not adequately planned or supervised and had allowed inappropriate equipment to be used.

The HSE prosecuted Liversedge Decorating Contractors Ltd, as well as two of its directors –

and the principal contractor Foster Turn-Key Contracts Ltd – for health and safety breaches.

On Tuesday (16/03/10) at Huddersfield Magistrates’ Court, Liversedge Decorating Contractors Ltd of Mountain Road, Thornhill in Dewsbury pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4 (1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The company was fined £2,000.

Paul Daniel of Smithy Carr Lane in Brighouse and Clive Dewhirst of Mountain Road in Thornhill, Dewsbury – both directors of the firm – also pleaded guilty to the same charge. They were fined £1,000 each.

Foster Turn-Key Contractors of Plover Road in Lindley, Huddersfield pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 22 (1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007. The company was fined £2,000.

Because of head injuries sustained in the incident, Mr Dawson is unable to remember any of the details of what happened to him.

After the hearing, HSE inspector David Stewart said that falls from height remain the single most common cause of fatality and serious injury in the construction industry.

‘The ladder Trevor Dawson used – which we believe may have caused or contributed to his fall – was simply not suitable for the work he was doing. It was a domestic step ladder which should not have been allowed on the site. In this situation, a tower scaffold would have been much more appropriate,’ said Mr Stewart.

‘The law is quite clear and HSE provides freely-available guidance on how work at height should be managed.

‘In this instance, individual directors of a company were found guilty for not planning and supervising the work properly,’ he added.

‘This case should send a clear message to company directors about their responsibilities for health and safety.’

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