'Inappropriate' working at height methods lead to big fines

The Health and Safety Executive has reported that a company and its
contractor have been fined following the fall of an employee from a
height of more than 10 metres.

Veolia Environmental Services Birmingham was fined £100,000 with costs
of £22,000, while the contractor Hansen Transmissions of Huddersfield
was fined £70,000 with costs of £22,000.

The incident took place when an employee of the contractor, was
replacing a gear box in a condenser unit at Veolia Environmental
Services' premises. The employee fell causing him to suffer broken
ribs, a hernia and a punctured lung. His fall was broken when he
landed on a pallet of copper pipes.

Paul Smith, HSE investigating inspector said of Hansen Transmissions
system: "was plainly unsafe - men [were] working ten metres and more
up in the air, [they] were manoeuvring bulky plant using inappropriate
methods, [and they were] on and above an inadequate working platform,
with markedly inadequate protection from the drop beneath".