AN OFFICE refurbishment firm has been heavily fined for breaking workplace safety rules, three years after a man fell to his death in a Hayes business park.
Open Contracts and Malcolm Dunn, a sub-contractor based in Cardiff, were prosecuted at Southwark Crown Court on December 22, after admitting breaching 'work at height' regulations.
On July 7, 2007, Paul Morrisey, 57, was replacing an old rooflight in a unit at the Fairview Industrial Estate, in Clayton Road, when it gave way.
Mr Morrisey, from Cardiff, fell seven metres on to the concrete floor below and died at the scene.
The investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found the contractor appointed to carry out the work had little knowledge or experience of this type of roofwork.
There was evidence that the work had not been adequately planned.
Open Contracts was fined £60,000 and told to pay £29,757 in costs. Dunn was fined £2,000.
In May 2009, 17-year-old Lewis Edwards suffered multiple injuries in an almost identical accident, after falling through the roof of the Argent Centre, in Pump Lane, Hayes, while clearing the guttering.
His employer, office fitters STP Solutions, admitted failing to ensure the safety of its worker, and last week was told to pay £37,859 in total, following a court hearing in September.
Falls from height are the biggest single cause of workplace deaths in Britain. There were 15 deaths and nearly 11,500 serious injuries in 2009.
