Company fined £15,000 after engineer suffered spinal injuries in skylight plunge

The employer of an engineer who suffered serious spinal injuries when he fell 14 feet through a roof has been fined £15,000 for breaching health and safety rules.

Daniel Smith, 30, was installing an extractor fan at a food storage depot in Lyham Road, Brixton, South London, when he slipped and fell through a skylight, severely injuring his spine.

He has undergone 18 months of intensive rehabilitation at Stoke Mandeville Hospital since the accident on 5 October 2006.

In a prosecution brought by Lambeth Council, Advanced Cooling Systems Ltd, Mr Smith’s employer, pleaded guilty to a number of offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Camberwell Magistrates’ Court heard on April 28th that company staff had not received sufficient health and safety training, and that the company had failed to ensure their staff were properly trained to work at height.

Mr Smith had received no formal instruction as to how to install the fan, and had climbed onto a slippery roof, clearly putting himself at risk.

In mitigation the company said that it had recruited a Health and Safety consultant to refresh the companies Health & Safety procedures three weeks before the incident, and that they had since revised their training procedures.

The company pleaded guilty to three charges and was fined a total of £15,000 together with full costs of £3,192 and a victim surcharge of £15 making a total of £18,207, to be paid within eight weeks.

Mohammed Suleman, Lambeth Council Environmental Health Officer, who oversaw the council prosecution, said: “This is a clear example where an extremely serious accident could have been avoided if only a few simple health and safety procedures had been followed.

“Companies have a legal responsibility to make sure their staff are properly trained so that they don’t place themselves at risk when at work.

"Advanced Cooling Systems didn’t take these responsibilities seriously and displayed a casual attitude to health and safety. Mr Smith was clearly at risk by climbing onto a slippery roof, but with proper training and adequate risk assessments, this accident almost certainly would not have happened."
 
Mr Smith was installing the fan in premises of The Cheese Cellar Company in Lyham Road, SW2, on October 5 2006 when the incident occurred. He was taken to Kings College Hospital and later transferred to the specialist spinal unit at Stoke Mandeville.

Lambeth Council launched a full investigation after being contacted by the Health and Safety Executive.