Firm fined following worker fall
Posted: July 23, 2015
Posted in: Falls from Heights Workplace Injuries Wrongful & Accidental Death
A Cardiff-based building firm has been fined £200,000 after a worker fell to his death from a department store front in 2011. 60-year-old Philip Evans, from Penarth, Vale of Glanmorgan, had been contracted to repair glass above a Debenhams store entrance in Exeter when he fell through the opening. He died from the severity of his injuries.
Mr Evans had been working for Cardiff-based London Fenestration Trades when the accident happened in November 2011. The firm was sub-contracted by construction firm Sir Robert McAlpine – both firms pleaded guilty to health and safety breaches.
Opening created by previous maintenance work
Since the accident in 2011, London Fenestration Trades has gone into liquidation. Sir Robert McAlpine, however, was fined £200,000 for the incident. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) stated during its prosecution at Exeter Crown Court that the opening that Mr Evans fell through had been created by previous maintenance work when a pane of glass was removed but not replaced.
Sir Robert McAlpine officials offered “sincere condolences and heartfelt sympathy to the family of Mr Evans” in a recent statement.
According to HSE figures, 2011/12 saw 173 workers killed at work, a rate of 0.6 fatalities per 100,000 workers. Of the main industrial sectors, construction, agriculture and waste and recycling had the highest rates of fatality.
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