Industry News » Employee Accident Caused by a Faulty Ladder That Wasn't Inspected Leads to a £7,000 Fine
09-11-2007
The below article was taken from this month’s issue of Safety Management magazine (the journal of the British Safety Council) and concerns a company prosecuted and fined £7,000 for an employee accident involving a faulty ladder that hadn’t been inspected.
Acid Damaged Ladder Snaps In Two
Employers have been warned to ensure that work equipment is maintained in a safe condition after a brick cleaning contractor sustained serious back injuries when he fell from a poorly maintained ladder.
Gary Jaundrill suffered damage to his spine after falling aproximately 3 metres when the ladder he was standing on snapped in two due to acid corrosion, a court heard.
Brick cleaning firm Gazelle Steam Cleaning Services of Hutton, Lancashire, was fined £7,000 at Macclesfield Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to a breach of Section 2(1) of the HSWA. It was also ordered to pay the HSE's costs of £14,257.
Jaundrill was standing on the seventh rung of the aluminium ladder, power washing brickwork he had treated with acid at a housing construction site in Macclesfield, when the accident happened in February 2006.
Investigating HSE Inspector Rob Hodkinson said: "Gazelle failed to give its workers proper instructions or training for the use and care of ladders whilst brick washing. It permitted workers to use ladders that were regularly exposed to the corrosive effect of hydrochloric acid without the ladders being the subject or rigorous and regular checking for corrosion and other faults.
"It was purely left to the workers themselves to give them a quick look over at the end of each day."
He added: "Like any piece of work equipment a ladder should be checked and maintained. With the use of acid, it's even more important to have a rigorous inspection procedure. Just giving them a quick look over and throwing them in the back of a van is not adequate."
As a result of the accident, Jaundrill has been left with two rods and eight screws in his back, psychiatric problems, constant pain and a permanent back condition, from which he will never make a full recovery. He cannot work and his condition is said to be still deteriorating.
The court was also told that the company's method statement for the task was inadequate as it only covered the use of scaffolding and made no reference to ladders.
"The use of a working platform would have been a safer system of work because there is no need for someone to foot the ladder and workers don't have to worry about maintaining three points of contact," said Hodkinson.
He added: "During this task, there was also a risk of the person footing the ladder being rained on by hydrochloric adid, albeit in a diluted form."
In mitigation, Gazelle said that Jaundrill was the foreman and therefore was responsible for checking the ladder. The firm admitted there was no formal system for inspecting and maintaining ladders but said that it has since introduced a tagging system for the ladders and regularly checks their condition.