Three partners fined for failing to control falls from height risk

Three senior partners with an accountant in Kent have been fined a total of £5000 after an inspection of a construction site, which was within a few 100m of the Ashford HSE office, found that risk of injury from falls from height was not properly controlled.

Michael Bushell, Hugh Ellison and Hugh Summerfield, of Finn-Kelcey and Chapman, were charged at Ashford Magistrates'' Court, Kent, for failing to ensure the safety of contractors working at height on the building owned by the accountancy firm.

Summerfield was fined £2500, while Bushell and Ellison were both fined £1250.

Last November the partners were warned about unsafe work at heights, when an employee of theirs was working on a tower scaffold without edge protection in place. The partners were sent a letter detailing the faults and sent information on work at heights.

In January 2003 a contractor carrying out demolition work to the front porch of the accountants building was working at a height of 4m. again without any edge protection. The contractor and the partners were each served with a Prohibition Notice preventing further work.

So when on 2 February 2003 two contractors had again been working from a tower scaffold without edge protection in place the work was stopped and it was for that offence that the trio were prosecuted.