Contractor fined for electrical fatality
An electrical contractor has been fined £100,000 following the electrocution of an employee who was fitting wiring in a building society refurbishment. The accident happened in 2003. The 28 year-old worker suffered a fatal electric shock to the head when a colleague mistakenly turned on the power. The Cheltenham-based electrical consultancy pled guilty to breaches of health and safety legislation in May 2007 at the Old Bailey (the case was moved from Southwark magistrate’s court for administrative reasons). The firm was also ordered to pay £33,000 costs.
The electrician had reportedly been working for more than 66 hours a week over 11 weeks on the refitting at a building society branch in central London. The firm failed to ensure power switches were padlocked closed so that they could not be switched on by accident.
In what seems like a footnote to this tragic accident, the company was also fined £750 for contravening the Working Time Regulations 1998.
After the case, prosecuting HSE inspector Anne Gloor said: 'The judgment shows that companies should ensure that all staff are safe at work, and that there should be good arrangements for locking off all power supply systems.' The HSE investigation found that the contractor should have carried out a risk assessment for the work, and ensured there were proper signs and measures to lock off the power.
After the accident, the company took on consultants to provide safety management advice and ongoing support.
S.2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states: 'It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees'.
Regulation 4 (1) of the Working Time Regulations 1998 states: “Unless the employer has first obtained the worker's agreement in writing to perform such work, a worker's working time, including overtime, in any reference period which is applicable in his case shall not exceed an average of 48 hours for each seven days.”
Copyright Schofield Publishing 2005-2008. www.healthandsafetymonitor.com
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