Firm fined over apprentice fall

Richard O’Connor, 20, of Nythe, sustained serious back injuries after falling at The Platform, in Faringdon Road, in 2010.

Richard’s employer Roberts and Prowse Ltd, based in Swindon, is said to have failed to carry out a specific risk assessment for the work and also failed to ensure adequate measures were put in place to reduce the risk of a fall.

The electrical and mechanical contractors appeared before Swindon Magistrates on Friday in a prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and pleaded guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 in relation to the fall.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector Damien Milbourne said: “Richard sustained serious injuries in the fall, but he could easily have been killed as a result of his employer’s negligence.”

The court heard that Richard was just 18 at the time of the incident on February 3, 2010.

He was undertaking electrical installation work at the youth centre when he stumbled from a narrow timber walkway and fell on to an exposed plasterboard ceiling that gave way under his weight. He managed to grab hold of a timber joist, but after a few seconds this also gave way and he fell five-and-a-half metres on to the floor below.

The apprentice sustained three fractures to his vertebrae as well as cuts and bruising and his injuries meant he was unable to work for two months.

The company, which is officially registered at Barnfield Crescent, in Exeter, was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £5,156 in costs.

Mr Milbourne said: “There was a failure by Roberts and Prowse to make a specific risk assessment for the work in the loft of the building.

“They also failed to ensure measures were put in place that would have prevented employees falling through the ceiling where they were working.

“Richard and others were left to work on and near exposed joists without suitable platforms or coverings or guardrails.”