10.01.2005

Company Director Jailed after employee dies in fall

Mr Lee Harper, managing director of Harper Building Contractors Ltd of Cannock Staffordshire, was sentenced to a 16-month jail term at Manchester Crown Court today following a police led, joint investigation with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the death of an employee, Mr Daryl Arnold from a fall on 11 June 2003.

Arnold, aged 27, and several others had been employed by Mr Lee Harper of Cannock, Staffordshire, to remove and replace the roof of a warehouse on the Lynton industrial estate in Salford. No safe system of work had been prepared before the work began and no safety precautions were in place at the time of the incident. Mr Arnold had never worked on a roof before.

Whilst working on the roof, Mr Arnold stepped backwards onto a fragile rooflight on an adjoining warehouse, which gave way. Mr Arnold fell approximately 6.75m landing on the ground floor directly below. He died as a result of his injuries.

Mr Harper, managing director of Harper Building Contractors Ltd of Cannock Staffordshire pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter and a breach of Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA).

Commenting on the case Pam Waldron, HSE’s Head of Construction for Scotland and the North West, said:

“No penalty can make up for the loss of a loved one. However, Lee Harper’s sentence properly reflects the seriousness of his failure to ensure that Daryl Arnold was safe and HSE is pleased that the matter has been concluded. There was a fundamental failure to recognise that the roof included fragile roof lights that will not bear a man’s weight. Moreover, the equipment to prevent people falling through fragile materials is readily available and relatively cheap. A sensible, straightforward approach to health and safety in managing the risks on this job should have prevented this tragic death.”

Vertikal Comment

The number of cases where the CPS decides to prosecute company directors for manslaughter in such cases is set to escalate. With such a wide variety of access equipment now available for rent or purchase there is no excuse for putting workers at risk.

The guidelines that the HSE land CPS consider when deciding to prosecute for Manslaughter or gross negligence in such cases and their reasoning in this case are as follows::

1.In order to determine whether an act constitutes the offence of gross negligence manslaughter, the Crown must establish that:
•There was a duty of care owned by the accused to the deceased.
•There was a breach of the duty of care by the accused.
•Death of the deceased was caused by breach of the duty of care by the accused.
•The breach of the duty of care by the accused was so great as to be characterised as gross negligence and therefore a crime.
More information is available from the CPS website: www.cps.gov.uk

2.Section 2 of Health & Safety at Work Act (HSWA) 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."

3.The breach of Section 2 of HSWA by Mr Harper was brought against him by virtue of Section 37 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act. Mr Harper was the sole Director of Harper Building Contractors Ltd. Section 37 of HSWA states: “Where a ‘body corporate’ commits a health and safety offence, and the offence was committed with the consent or connivance of, or was attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, then that person (as well as the body corporate) is liable to be proceeded against and punished”.

4.At the hearing on the 9th December 2004 Mr Harper’s company, Harper Building Contractors Ltd, were also charged with an offence of corporate manslaughter and breach of Section two of HSWA. These charges remain on the file as the company is in liquidation.

5.There were 8 deaths and 140 major injuries caused by a fall through fragile materials in 2002/3 (the latest figures). In 2003/04 38 fatalities to workers in the construction industry were due to falling from a height, an increase of 5 from 2002/03. HSE’s Construction Division has made its work to prevent falls arising from roofwork a priority – see http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/program.htm#roof

HSE publishes guidelines on Roof work, the basic information includes:

When a job requires work at height there needs to be a plan to work in a safe way. Simple precautions can prevent anyone working on or adjacent to fragile materials, such as roof lights or asbestos sheets. Precautions include:
•Place platforms over fragile materials to work over them. Platforms must be at least 600mm wide and supported by solid materials.
•Either cover with a material capable of supporting weight or provide edge protection (ie hand rail, mid-rail and toe board) if working near fragile materials.
•Where a roof will be removed the above precautions must be used and in addition it is possible to provide safety netting beneath the roof service to provide collective fall protection.
•When putting these precautions in place, or for jobs of short duration, harnesses may be an appropriate solution - but care must be taken to find a suitable fixing point.
•Training courses are available for roofers that include basic health and safety.
•A supervisor should be in charge of the work to ensure that safe systems of work are being followed.