Firms fined £130,000 after worker falls 23m to his death

Two firms have been fined £130,000 following the death of a man who fell 23m in Maidstone, Kent.

The worker was installing floor gratings to one of three boilers on a construction site when one of the gratings gave way, causing him to plummet to his death.

Many of the gratings had not been secured in place and others had been displaced by pipe-fitters working on the boiler before the accident.

A health and safety manager was complaining about the danger of the gratings to subcontractor Rafako when the accident occurred on 19 July 2005.

Rafako was fined £85,000 and ordered to pay costs of £35,000 after pleading guilty to a health and safety breach at the Maidstone Crown Court.

Principal contractor Lentjes UK was also fined £45,000 and ordered to pay £25,000 in costs after also pleading guilty to a health and safety breach.

Health and Safety Executive inspector Peter Collingwood said: “This death could easily have been avoided. Had the work onsite been properly planned so that the pipe fitters had not been allowed to displace gratings at the same time as they were being installed, and if the gratings had been fastened in place as the work proceeded, this incident would have been avoided.

“Another life has been lost because of the inability to plan and implement simple and basic precautions and employers need to understand that this is simply not acceptable.”