Two employees at Wanzl Ltd. were asked to take apart a large metal cage at their workplace in Coventry.
The company hired scaffold towers so they could access the roof of the cage. After they started dismantling it, the roof gave way and they fell 3 metres to the floor. One man was so badly injured he was off work for 12 months.
The business was fined £320,000 after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 4 (1) of the Work at Height Regulations, which requires employers to ensure work at height is properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out in a safe manner.
The HSE investigation found that none of the employees involved were trained in the assembly of towers. While they didn’t fall from the tower itself, it’s worrying to see from the photos that assembly wasn’t done correctly.
Moreover, the injured man was not trained in working at height. Dismantling the cage was a one-off activity and not part of his normal duties, which just goes to show how quickly accidents can happen and lives can change. If you’re working at height, you must be competent – even as a one-time thing.
