Roofing firm fined over worker safety breach

GS Roofing Specialists was prosecuted following the chance encounter at Kelvin Way Trading Estate in West Bromwich.

Sandwell Magistrate's Court heard a Health and Safety Executive inspector was on the industrial estate on September 26 last year when he spotted two workers on a fragile roof of a nearby business unit.

He noted they were working on the roof without any adequate fall prevention or mitigation measures in place, the court heard.

A subsequent Health and Safety Executive investigation found that GS Roofing Specialists, based in Water Orton in Birmingham, had prepared a risk assessment and method statement for the work which stated that guard rails and netting would be used, but they were not.

Suitable boarding, platforms, and coverings were also overlooked.

The company, of Attleboro Lane, was fined £7,500 and ordered to pay £1,090 costs after pleading guilty to breaching the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

After the hearing, Health and Safety Executive inspector Gareth Langston said: "The dangers that the workers faced were so great and immediately obvious when I witnessed the safety breaches being committed.

"GS Roofing Specialists blatantly ignored the risk assessment's advice for fall protection to be in place, leaving workers exposed to an unnecessary risk of a serious or even fatal injury.

"Working at height is a high-risk activity. There is a need to adequately plan for such work and ensure those plans are fully implemented and monitored effectively to ensure the safety of those involved."

Last year more than 6,300 people suffered major injuries after falling from height at work.

Working on roofs accounts for almost a quarter of all workers who are killed in falls from heights, and falls through fragile materials like sky lights account for more of these deaths than any other single cause.

Many others are seriously injured and are left with life-changing disabilities.