01.05.2008

Everest hit for £22,000

The UK’s largest replacement window company, Everest, of Sopers Road, Cuffley, Potters Bar, was fined £6,000 with £15,963.25 costs, at Luton Magistrates' Court yesterday, after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety law including Work At Height Regulations.

There had been no accident on the site to trigger this prosecution, it arose following inspections on the 14th July 2006 and 6th November 2006 when an HSE inspector passed neighbouring residential properties on Crawley Green Road in Luton, where Everest was contracted to perform domestic roofline refurbishment.
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One of the scaffold set ups that triggered the prosection

The work involved working at height from mobile tower scaffolds and associated work platforms, but the towers were erected without guardrails or suitable protection to prevent them from falling.

The Inspector took immediate enforcement action and served a Prohibition Notice which stopped the work at both sites.

Everest Ltd was also recently fined £4,000 in another case taken by HSE, when a Roofline Installer fell from the platform on which he was working.

HSE Inspector, Norman Macritchie said:
"The level of fatal and serious injuries in refurbishment projects remains unacceptable. Each death is a tragedy for those involved and there is no room for any complacency. The challenge for the construction industry is to ensure that sensible and effective precautions are in place to stem these deaths.

"Employers must ensure that safe working practices are developed and followed. HSE inspectors will not tolerate negligence or poor safety standards on construction sites. Robust enforcement action may well be taken, especially where there is serious or repeated breach of legislation, or failure to control the lethal risks associated with work at height."