Solar panel installer falls through roof into pool

Grant Prior 8 years ago
Share

A solar panel specialist has been fined £153,000 after a worker was seriously injured in a fall through a fragile roof light in Kent.

The injured man fell onto the side of the swimming pool
The injured man fell onto the side of the swimming pool

The worker, from Ashford, fractured his shin and a vertebra in the incident at a home in Hawkinge on 30 April 2013.

The roof light the 32-year-old man crashed through was on an outbuilding housing a swimming pool.

Although the water partially cushioned his fall, he made a heavy impact with the side and flooring around the pool, and was unable to return to work until January this year and only then on a part-time basis.

Glasgow-based P V Solar UK Limited was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court after an investigation by the HSE found that more could and should have been done to prevent the fall.

The court had heard in a hearing in January 2016, when the company pleaded guilty to three health and safety offences, that the injured worker was part of a three man team working on the pool building to replace faulty solar panels that were initially installed by the same company in April 2011.

The fragile roof also contained eight roof lights and he fell through one of these as he walked on the roof while carrying a panel.

HSE established that a scaffold tower, ladder and safety harness had been provided for the panel replacement work.

But none of the installation team had received any formal training or instruction on how to use them.

Other measures could also have been taken, such as providing full scaffolding or hard covers for the rooflights.

HSE established that although the initial installation work in 2011 was completed without incident, the safety equipment provided on that occasion was also lacking, which again placed workers at risk.

The court had also been told that P V Solar was served with a Prohibition Notice by HSE to stop unsafe work on a fragile roof in Bristol in May 2011.

The company was therefore well aware of the need to ensure that adequate provisions were in place to prevent or mitigate falls during work at height.

P V Solar UK Limited, of Cambuslang Road, Glasgow, was fined a total of £153,000 and ordered to pay a further £29,480 in costs after pleading guilty to three safety breaches.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Melvyn Stancliffe said: “The injured worker suffered serious injury in the fall and could have been killed.

“He and his colleagues were effectively left to their own devices with equipment that was not wholly suited for the task at hand. In short, better equipment, training and supervision should have been provided.

“Working on or near a fragile roof or materials is not a task to be undertaken without proper planning, and without having the appropriate safety measures in place at all times. There is considerable free guidance available from the HSE regarding the precautions needed when working at height, including on or near fragile roof coverings.”

Latest news

Geoffrey Osborne files administration notice

Contractor in talks to save parts of the business
8 hours ago

RG Group signs £121m Newcastle rental homes job

Developer Olympian Homes advances 519 flats plan at Pottery Lane site
5 hours ago

Winners named for £260m Manchester Uni framework

B&K, Henry Bros, Graham, Robertson and Vinci among new line-up
8 hours ago

Shed specialist Benniman rides out market lull

Worcestershire warehouse builder says industrial and logistics work is picking up again
8 hours ago

Another contractor cleared after high profile immigration raid

Adana Construction employees were working legally on site swooped on by Home Office
8 hours ago

McAleer & Rushe wants to meet new London suppliers

Contractor holding Meet the Buyer event in London: Register now
8 hours ago

McAlpine signs £500m Broadgate dual towers deal

Work to start on iconic 36-storey and 21-storey towers
1 day ago

Worker rescued from collapsed four metre deep trench

Fire crews take six hours to save trapped builder near Blackwall Tunnel
1 day ago

Gove puts another major building scheme on hold

Secretary of State starts another planning fight after M&S defeat
2 days ago

Greenwich University tenders £300m framework

Up to five firms will carry out upgrade and newbuild work at three campuses
1 day ago

Work starts on Manchester 26-storey Obsidian tower

Contractor Domis starts Salboy's 10th Manchester scheme in seven years
1 day ago

Race for £1.3bn West Midlands social homes framework

The Community Housing Group reboots tender race for new build housing
1 day ago

Delancey submits £400m King’s Cross lab plans

200,000 sq ft lab/office project will be built above railway and tube tunnels just 4.5m below
2 days ago

Winners revealed for £150m fire safety framework

New deal will help organisations comply with the Building Safety Act
1 day ago

Sellar plans £500m City tower next to Walkie-Talkie

Consultation starts on London 60 Gracechurch Street tower
2 days ago

Severfield ends year on high with record order book

Orders top £500m with strong future pipeline of opportunities ahead
2 days ago

Second senior director exits National Highways

Commercial director Malcolm Dare set to move on to new role
2 days ago

New scheme fuels London lab building boom

Plans in for 160,000 sq ft Whitechapel scheme near Royal London hospital
2 days ago

Contract race starts for next £155m section of A9 dualling

Prior Information Notice published for Tay Crossing to Ballinluig stretch
3 days ago

£55m Sheffield build-to-rent scheme approved

Demolition to start later this year for 158-flat Sheffield Garden project
3 days ago

London back as most expensive place to build in world

Capital leapfrogs Geneva to top costliest construction rankings
3 days ago

Gas supplier Regent to buy TClarke for £90m

£491m turnover listed building services specialist to be sold
3 days ago

Steel contractor Billington launches into bridge market

Steelwork firm hires staff from failed architectural and bridge specialist SH Structures
3 days ago

McGee employees benefit from rise in profits

Pre-tax profit doubles boosting payouts for Employee Ownership Trust
3 days ago

Lendlease veteran is latest new McAlpine director

Paul Sims joins as Operations Director after 40 years at rival contractor
4 days ago

Costain signs site labour supply deal with four firms

Contractor to use only a quartet of providers for temporary labour supply
3 days ago

BAM go-ahead for Leeds 200,000 sq ft office

Latitude Yellow will complete final plot at Doncaster Monk Bridge site
4 days ago

VolkerFitzpatrick wins £30m logistics job

Latest deal to build five distribution units for Prologis UK
4 days ago

Trio win new Scape utilities consultancy framework

Perfect Circle, AtkinsRéalis and Arcadis win places on
3 days ago

Precast firm FP McCann cleared after immigration raid

Home Office takes no action after public raid on construction site
4 days ago

Contractor services