Amec fined œ5k for workers fall

Amec Construction Scotland was fined œ5,000 last week and accused of a 'blatant disregard for the safety of its employees' after an accident at the Western General Hos- pital in Edinburgh last August.

The firm admitted failing to provide suitable guard rails along a ceiling edge. Donald Tait fell from the ceiling and gashed his head and injured his spine and ankles.

Sheriff David Crowe imposed the maximum fine on Amec but said it was totally inadequate for a company with a turnover of œ50 million.

Amec accepted there had been a lack of management control, but denied the workforce had been encouraged to press on regardless.

n Amec and Balfour Beatty were each fined œ1,000 and each ordered to pay œ1,663 costs this week following an accident at the Westminster station site of the Jubilee Line Extension project.

A scaffold pole fell through a glass roof at the station in October last year showering a passenger with glass. He was taken to hospital but suffered no permanent injury.

The contractors pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety laws but said it was a freak accident during very complex works. They had wanted to close the station during the work but Parliament had refused.