After a worker broke his back on the job, the Health and Safety Executive chose to prosecute two Nottingham-based companies for their involvement in the man’s injuries, work accident claim experts recently reported.
The employee, whose name has not been made known to the public for legal reasons and privacy concerns, had been working in Nottingham’s Convent Street on a refurbishment project for M-tech Engineering Ltd at the time of the accident, according to personal injury compensation experts familiar with the case. Thomas Long & Sons Ltd, the site’s principal contractors, had hired M-tech for the installation of a steel staircase on the site, and the 38 year old old worker fell from a mobile tower scaffold while working on the installation, plummeting nearly nine metres to land at the worksite below.
The worker, who fractured two of his vertebrae in the fall, needed to take nearly seven months off from work in order to recover from the serious personal injuries he suffered in the fall. Contributing factors to the fall from height were investigated by the HSE, with investigator discovering that the mobile scaffold did not comply with the instructions of the manufacturer as it had been erected on an unsuitable base, had not been fitted with guard rails to aid in the prevention of falls, and that it was also erected ways that violated industry guidelines.
The Bulwell, Nottingham-based M-tech Engineering Limited, was given a fine of £8,000 at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court after an admission of breaching health and safety regulatory. Thomas Long & Son was also fined, having been ordered to pay £6,000 for breaching related regulatory standards as well.